You Left Me
by SkyeRose
Summary: When Olivia returns to SVU everything seems normal. That is, until a very surprise guest bursts everyone's bubble. And when a group of very determined people come looking for Olivia and Elliot will they be able to escape? EO. JC. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

**You Left Me**

**Chapter 1: Frizzy's Return**

**Disclaimer: I don't own**

**A/N: This chapter was super fun to write. Dani Beck makes a short appearance in this chapter. Trust me when I say all you anti-Danis will be happy. Enjoy!**

Olivia looked across her desk at her partner. He was leaning back in his chair throwing a pen into the air then catching it again. He looked bored.

"Busy day?" the Captain said loudly from behind Elliot. As a result, Elliot toppled over in his chair. His pen hit him smack on his forehead. Olivia held a folder up to her mouth to hide her grin. Elliot stood up as Munch and Fin began clapping. Elliot gave a mock-bow, but looked at the two with daggers in his eyes. Munch raised an eyebrow and Fin raised his hands in surrender. Olivia giggled before she could stop herself. Elliot looked at her, both brows raised.

"You want to add something?" He asked trying to sound angry. He failed. Miserably. Olivia opened her mouth to respond, but she suddenly lost all her breath. She was literally choking on air. 'No, it couldn't be!' Olivia thought. 'Why would she come back here?' Dani Beck had just walked into the squad room. Her eyes darkened when she saw Olivia.

"Why the hell are you sitting at my desk?" Beck asked, stunned. Olivia looked at her, fury evident in her eyes. The room had gone quiet. All eyes turned to watch Olivia and Beck.

"Excuse me?" Olivia asked; words dripping with sarcasm. "Your desk? No, you see, this is my desk. You were just keeping it warm for me while I was away." By this point everything had frozen. People had stopped talking, stopped shuffling papers, and had ceased to do anything else that made noise. Olivia stood up.

"I don't know who the hell you think you are, but-" Beck began.

"Benson." Olivia said, cutting Beck off.

"Huh?" Beck asked and Olivia smiled.

"Detective Olivia Benson." She walked around her desk and stood next to Elliot. "Elliot's partner."

Munch nudged Fin in the arm.

"Olivia could so take Beck." Fin nodded in agreement.

"You bitch!" Beck breathed. "Elliot's my partner." She walked towards Elliot.

"Uh- uh. I don't think so." Olivia stepped in front of Elliot, blocking Dani's path.

"Move Benson." Beck said, attempting to be threatening.

"First of all, it's Detective Benson to you. And, second, I don't want to fight. You seem like a nice person, but you gave up your job here. And even if you had stayed I would still be Elliot's partner. You were just a temp."

"Elliot didn't think so." Beck snickered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Olivia asked. Munch groaned and watched Olivia's face closely. This was not going to end well.

"Oh, I guess he didn't tell you. We kissed, Olivia."

"For your information," Olivia smirked. "He did tell me. We don't keep secrets. Especially ones that are less than important." Inside, however, Olivia was screaming. He hadn't told her! But she would not let Dani know that. Suddenly, Beck drew back her fist. Munch and Fin launched themselves out of their chairs. No way were they going to let Dani touch Olivia. She was like a sister to them. But, before they could reach her Dani had hit Olivia. The whole world stopped. Munch, Fin, Cragen, and Elliot stood speechless. They didn't understand; Olivia could have stopped her. Why hadn't she?

Dani cocked her fist again, but this time Olivia caught her wrist. Wordlessly, she twisted Beck's arm behind her back and slammed her face into the desk.

"Dani Beck; you are under arrest for assaulting a police officer." Olivia said in a dangerous monotone. "You have the right to remain silent." She continued as she shoved Beck into an interrogation room. Olivia finished reading Dani her rights then walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her. She took a deep breath and walked towards Elliot. When she was standing in front of him she crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her head to the side.

"Look, Liv-," he tried. He reached out his hand to touch her arm, but she jumped and backed away like she had been bitten.

"Don't." she took a shaky breath. "Don't you touch me." She continued to back up slowly, her eyes filled with tears. "Don't touch me." She whispered again. Then she turned on her heel and fled the room.

"Alright people, back to work! This is not a show." Cragen shouted walking towards Elliot. Elliot turned to Munch, but Munch only shook his head. Elliot then turned to Fin who avoided his gaze completely. "Munch, go talk to Olivia. Make sure she's okay." Cragen said. Elliot opened his mouth, but Cragen only spoke louder. "Fin go book Beck."

Elliot sank into his chair and covered his face with his hands.

"Olivia! C'mon Olivia, I know you didn't leave!" Munch called. He paused and waited for a reply. "Olivia!"

"Over here, John. Stop shouting." Munch turned around. Olivia was leaning against the wall of the precinct. Her head was down and she was using the back of her hand to wipe away her tears.

"Hey, Liv, don't worry about it. He kissed Dani…so what? I mean so what? It's not like you two are together." He put more emphasis than necessary on this last sentence. 'Might as well find out if they are.' He thought.

"Oh, shut up!" Olivia gave a tearful laugh. She looked up and Munch saw just how much this had upset her.

"Liv," he said softly, putting his arm around her shoulder. "That kiss… it didn't mean anything." She leaned back against his shoulder.

"It's not that John. He can kiss whoever he wants. It's just that he didn't tell me. Why wouldn't he tell me John?"

"Because it didn't mean anything to him. He was upset, Liv. And lonely." Olivia looked up, confused. "You left him, Liv. You are the only person he has to lean against. I mean, when Kathy left, you never left his side. You stuck by him no matter how badly he treated you. You are his strength, his connection to Earth. And then, Liv, you were gone. You, his pillar, vanished and he was left to find his own way." Olivia was in tears again.

"John…" she began, but her voice caught. "I didn't know…" she stopped. She couldn't talk. Her mouth moved, but no sound came out. She finally looked up at Munch. "Thank you, John. You are truly like a brother to me. Granted, a much older brother.

"Hey!" he laughed and squeezed her shoulder. "Now, let's go put some ice on that pretty face of yours." He paused then said, "I have to go beat up Dani for hurting my little sis." Olivia felt the tears rush into her eyes again and could only smile.

They walked into the precinct and froze at what they saw.

**TBC**

**A/N: Let me know what you think! Please R&R.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Talk**

**Disclaimer: I do not own**

**A/N: Wow, more reviews than I expected! Thank you all! Here is the next chapter. This was also really fun to write. Enjoy!**

"John!" they heard Fin call. "Take Olivia! Run! Get out of here! They want her! Run! Go!" There were about twenty men with guns in the squad room.

"Casey!" Olivia screamed. Casey was lying on the floor, blood pooling under her. She started to run towards her friend, but someone grabbed her arm. She turned and found herself face-to-face with Elliot.

"We have to go, now!" his voice was rough.

"No Elliot, get off me! I have to-,"but she was cut off when he spun her around so that her back was against his stomach. He clamped his hand over her mouth and began pulling her out the door. Her muffled screams couldn't be heard over the din in the room. Olivia opened her eyes just as Elliot had pulled her through the door. Munch was running toward Casey. He picked her up and continued running in one smooth motion. Fin, followed by Cragen, ran after him. Olivia knew they were heading out the back way. The door she had left through only a few weeks ago when she'd seen Elliot and Dani. She screamed again. She screamed until she tasted blood in her mouth.

Elliot had half dragged, half carried the kicking and screaming Olivia four blocks before pressing her against the wall of an alley. He grabbed her shoulders and attempted to calm her down. She threw herself at him. She pounded weakly on his chest with fists she could barely lift. She screamed and she cried for her friends, for the pain she caused, but most of all, she cried for herself and Elliot. Of what their relationship had become; who they had become. She screamed and she cried and she beat Elliot's chest until she collapsed against him. He slowly sank to his knees; his own tears soaking her hair. She fell with him until they were both kneeling on the floor.

Olivia was sobbing into Elliot's chest. Elliot held her and gently rocked her back and forth. He was stroking her hair and whispering nonsense words to her. She eventually quieted. Elliot realized that she had fallen asleep. He picked her up, and looking around, bolted down the street. He checked them into the nearest hotel and when the clerk looked inquisitively at Olivia he smiled in what he hoped was an apologetic way. He explained that she had had too much to drink at her friend's bachelorette party. The clerk nodded sympathetically and gave him the room key. She didn't ask why they didn't have any luggage.

Once in the room Elliot laid Olivia on the bed. He then checked that all the windows and the door were locked. They were on the ninth floor, so he highly doubted that anyone would come through the window; but he checked all the same. Then he drew the blinds and collapsed, fully dressed, onto the bed next to Olivia.

Olivia opened her eyes a few hours later. She groaned. She could tell, without even looking, that her face was swollen. She rolled over and came face-to-face with a sleeping Elliot. She shrieked and rolled over so violently that she fell off the bed. With a start she remembered the past day's events.

At her scream Elliot bolted up in bed. He turned just as Olivia tumbled off the bed. He jumped up and rushed around to where she was sitting on the floor. He opened his mouth to speak, but Olivia held up her hand.

"Before I tell you to leave me alone, I want to know where we are." Olivia spoke quietly, her voice cold.

"Olivia…" he stopped. He couldn't screw this up. Give her time, he told himself. "We're at the Domino Hotel. It's about six blocks away from the station. Not a safe distance, but it's the best I could do." He sighed resignedly.

"Fine. Now leave me alone." Elliot wondered why she hadn't just left.

"Wait, but I thought-" he started, confused.

"You thought that I would just walk out after finding out where we were." She cut him off. "I have nowhere to go Elliot! If those guys really are after me, I can't go back to my apartment! I can't go to the station! So where do I go, Elliot? Nowhere! For the time being I have to stay here. You, however, don't." With that she turned her head away from him. It was her way of saying that he was dismissed. He wasn't going to let her off that easy, though.

"Look, Olivia, I didn't kiss her to hurt you!"

"Oh my God, Elliot! You can kiss whoever you want; I don't care! Now go! Just go!" She was on the verge of tears and had stood up. He stood too.

"No." that simple word seemed to magnify her rage. She slowly turned to face him.

"Who do you think you are? Who the hell do you think you are? You have an apartment to go to, so go! You think you're so smart; well, news flash Elliot, you're not. You think I'm upset because you kissed your partner? No, Elliot, I'm upset because you didn't tell me. You have been short and glib to me since I got back. I don't deserve that Elliot. I didn't do anything!"

"You left!" Elliot shouted, dangerously close to tears. "_You_ left _me_, Olivia! Without saying goodbye, without anything! You just left!"

"I didn't have a choice!"

"You could have stayed! You didn't have to leave! You could have said no!"

"Why do you care Elliot? It's because I left that you met Dani!"

"I wouldn't care if I never met her! I didn't even like her. She's not a good cop, Olivia. She's the exact opposite of you."

"But why do you care?!"

"Because I couldn't care about someone who's not you!" Silence followed his words. The kind of silence that leaves your ears ringing.

Olivia lost her steam. Her knees gave way and she fell onto the bed. Elliot kneeled in front of her.

"Olivia, I'm sorry. Please, I'm so sorry. I didn't know how to tell you about the kiss. I was afraid you'd leave again. If you left, I couldn't take it. Not again." She looked into his eyes. She so wanted to believe him. More than anything; she wanted to believe. But she had trusted him once and look where that had gotten her. He had kissed another woman and not told her.

"I don't know if I can trust you Elliot." Her words hit him like a ton of bricks.

"Olivia, please…" but she shook her head.

"No. I need to think. Please leave."

"No, I won't." Her face darkened again. He turned and sat next to her on the bed, folding his arms. "We are going to talk about this."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Put On the Ritz**

**Disclaimer: I don't own**

**A/N: Yay! The new episode of SVU airs tomorrow. I am sooooo excited!! This chapter not that exciting, sorry. I didn't feel particularly evil so I decided to update today. Enjoy!!**

Elliot and Olivia had talked for a little over an hour before Olivia fell asleep again. Her last comments still floating through Elliot's head.

"But what if whoever wants to hurt me hurts you? I couldn't deal with that Elliot. It would be safer for you if you just left." She had said before lying down.

Elliot got up off the bed and walked to the phone.

"Bellevue Hospital. This is Nurse Lani; OR." A cool voice emitted from the phone.

"Hello, I'm Detective Stabler. I was wondering if you had admitted a Casey Novak."

"One moment please Detective. Yes, we admitted a Casey Novak. She's in Recovery now."

"Thank you." Elliot said and hung up the phone. He heaved a sigh of relief. He looked up when he heard the shower start.

"Liv, you okay?" he called through the door.

"Just taking a shower. I thought I told you to leave."

"I'm not going anywhere." He smiled when she responded with an exaggerated sigh.

"Fine, stay. But make yourself useful and buy me some clothes, kay?"

"Sure." He replied.

"My wallet is on the bed."

"Don't worry about it." He started towards the door.

"El, wait!" she poked her head out. "I'll be needing some underwear, too." She smiled coyly.

"Yes dear." He responded sarcastically. He smiled; they were back to how they used to be.

When he got back Olivia was already out of the shower. She was lying on the bed, wrapped in a towel, flipping through channels.

"What took you so long?" She asked as she got up.

"Got us some ice-cream." He replied, holding the container up. It was Breyer's Double Chocolate; her favorite.

"You know, Elliot," she started as she went into the bathroom to change. "We're not confined to this room. We could have gone out for ice-cream." 

"No, we couldn't have. The captain called."

"He's okay? They're all okay? What about Casey?"

"Yeah, they're all fine. Casey's set to make a full recovery." He heard her sigh of relief. "Anyway, we are not to leave this room until instructed to do so. Munch and Fin are dropping by with some of our clothes. And your make-up."

"Whoa, wait. We? Ours? You're staying?"

"Don't have a choice. Whoever's out to get you is out to get me too. Both our apartments were trashed."

"Um, Elliot?" Olivia asked when she exited the bathroom. "What exactly was going through your hormone-driven mind when you picked this out?" She looked amazing in the black mini-skirt and long-sleeved, form-fitting black shirt Elliot had bought for her. Elliot smiled.

"It was either that or a bathing suit." Olivia just looked at him. Then, her eyes got this sort of mischievous look in them and her mouth curled into a smile.

"Well, two can play that game, mister." She began to walk slowly towards him. It's that walk women get when seducing men. She was literally inches from him. She trailed her fingers lightly down his chest, but he caught her wrist. He looked down into her eyes and her playful smile faltered. He was looking at her so intensely that she felt her knees go weak. Suddenly the door burst open; Munch and Fin had arrived. Olivia and Elliot jumped away from each other. Luckily, the two were so deep in conversation that they hadn't seen Elliot or Olivia just yet.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" Elliot called loudly.

"What? It's not like we were gonna walk in on something. Or did we?" Munch asked giving them the once-over.

"Damn girl! Work it!" Fin said to Olivia.

"Shut up, the both of you!" Olivia said, snatching her bag from Munch. She went into the bathroom to change again.

"Well, we'd love to stay and chat, but we have paperwork to do. Yay." Munch said unenthusiastically. "Tell Olivia we say 'bye."

"Will do." Elliot answered.

A few minutes after they left Olivia emerged from the bathroom once more. She was wearing navy blue sweats and a black NYPD shirt.

"So what now?" Elliot asked her. If they were going to be cooped up in this hotel room they might as well have fun.

"Ice-cream." She suggested. He shrugged his agreement.

He retrieved the container from the table and grabbed two spoons.

The two spent the afternoon eating ice-cream, watching old Lifetime movies, and mocking them. Without realizing it they had moved closer to each other on the bed. Olivia was curled up against him and he had wrapped his arm around her. He looked down and saw that she sleeping. Elliot turned the TV off and started to drift off. 'Why her?' he thought before he fell asleep.

"Olivia! Olivia, wake up! We've got to go!" Elliot whispered loudly, running around the room collecting their possessions. "Olivia!!"

"Five more minutes." She mumbled into the pillow.

"No, Liv, now." She groaned.

"Elliot...please." he walked over to her and sat on the bed. She was facing away from him.

"Liv, we gotta go. Cragen called. The guys who are after us, found us. We have to go." He was rubbing her back. She sat up slowly then fell back against his chest. He rested his chin on top of her head.

"Let's go." She sighed resignedly.

They each grabbed a bag and left. When they were in the elevator an awkward silence fell between them. They were standing close together, too close, but neither moved away. Suddenly the elevator jerked to a stop and the lights flickered out. Olivia grabbed Elliot's hand.

"Do you have your gun?" they asked each other simultaneously. Neither could see, but both were blushing. The doors suddenly opened. Olivia dropped Elliot's hand.

"Sorry about that folks." A man in a maintenance uniform said. He had on thick glasses and was leering at them. He didn't look sorry at all. Olivia hurried out of the elevator, Elliot right behind her. Neither uttered a word of thanks to the man and neither looked back. They took the stairs to the lobby and hailed a taxi.

"The Ritz-Carlton, please." Elliot said. Olivia looked up in surprise.

"You guys on your honeymoon?" the driver asked slyly, pulling away from the curb.

"Yes." Elliot answered without hesitation.

Elliot paid the driver once they reached their destination. Olivia silently climbed out, grabbed her bag, and went to the front desk to wait for Elliot.

"May I help you ma'am?" the concierge asked.

"Oh, no…I'm just waiting for my pa-," she stopped herself. "For my husband." She amended. Olivia sighed. 'Since when was Elliot her husband?' she thought. 'Oh boy, what the hell was going on? We're at the Ritz for Christ's' sake! Together!'

"Liv? You okay?" Elliot came up behind her. She nodded. They checked in and went to their room.

"Hey, El?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we in Witness Protection?" Elliot laughed.

"No, no we just have new identities."

"That's the definition of the WPP, El."

"It's temporary."

"Oh. So…we're married?"

"Yep." Elliot sat on the bed.

"Who am I?" Olivia asked sitting next to him.

"You are…Mrs. Mariska Meloni. And I…am Mr. Chris Meloni."

"Hmmm…" Olivia laughed. "Mariska…funny name."

"I think it's cute." Elliot said. Olivia shoved his arm. "What?" he protested. "It is."

"Yeah, okay, _Christopher_."

"It's not so bad…"

"Sure Christopher. Hee hee, it rhymes." Olivia ducked to avoid a pillow.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: I Promise You**

**Disclaimer: I do not own. That makes me sad.**

**A/N: Sorry! This is the longest I've ever not updated! I am so sorry! I was too distracted by last Tuesday's episode. Ugh! Damn Elliot for being such a baby! Anytime his world is shaken he runs back to familiar ground. Grrrrr! Damn Dick Wolf! I don't know who is worse; Kathy or Dani. I think Kathy because we all knew Dani would be leaving soon. But something tells me that Kathy will always be hovering in the background. Nooooo!**

**Sorry for my ranting. Anyway, my lovely, fluffy readers I bring you my next chapter. This goes out to LivElRocksaLot. I don't think she reads my stories but she was banned for a week on one of the boards I frequent. Can't wait to have her back! Now without further ado, Chapter 4!!**

"Elliot!" Olivia called. "Your phone is ringing!" He was in the shower. "I'm gonna answer it!" Still no reply. "Benson." She said into the phone.

"Olivia?" the voice on the other end asked. Olivia froze.

"Hello Kathy." Olivia managed to choke out.

"Where's Elliot?"

"Um, he's a little busy right now. You know…tough case."

"Oh. Could you tell him to call me then? It's kind of impor-,"

"Hey Liv? I left my shirt on the bed, could you get it for me?" Elliot yelled from the bathroom. Olivia clapped her hand to her forehead.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" Olivia muttered, holding the phone away from her mouth.

"Olivia!" she could hear Kathy yelling. "Where is my husband? He hasn't been to his apartment! Olivia! What the hell are you doing to my husband?!"

"Oh no, no, no!" Olivia turned. "Elliot!" Olivia hissed through her teeth. "Elliot!" she covered the mouthpiece of the phone with her hand. Elliot stuck his head out of the bathroom.

"What's wrong?" he asked when he saw the look of panic on her face. He came out of the bathroom. He was only wearing a towel around his waist. She looked into his eyes, purposely avoiding his naked top half. Her panic increased tenfold.

"Kathy! It's Kathy!" she whispered. Her constricted vocal cords allowing her to respond no louder.

Elliot's eyes betrayed no emotion. His face became perfectly impassive. He nodded his understanding, but did not reach for the phone. He, in fact, did nothing at all. He stared at her with his blue eyes. His stare and lack of reaction disconcerted her.

"Elliot?" Olivia whispered.

"Well?" he said finally speaking. "What does she want?" Olivia's eyes widened.

"I didn't exactly ask her." Elliot looked at her; eyes still a blank grey. "Elliot? Are you even going to talk to her?"

"No."

"What do you mean no? She's your wife, Elliot!"

"No, she's not. She is Elliot's ex-wife. He signed the divorce papers three weeks ago."

"Why the hell are you talking about yourself in the third person?" And then it hit her. They had new identities. And while they weren't in witness protection they couldn't talk to anyone who knew them. Aside from their commanding officer of course. That meant that neither one of them could talk to Kathy. Olivia put the phone back up to her ear.

"Call Captain Cragen. He'll explain everything. Don't call again." She knew she was talking in clipped sentences, but they had to obey the Captain's orders. She hung up and turned back to Elliot. He was still watching her with that paralyzing intensity.

"What?" Olivia asked quickly. Turning away from him so that he wouldn't see her blush. But, as always, he was too quick. Suddenly, he was on his feet and standing in front of her. Olivia closed her eyes and turned away from him again.

"Olivia?" There was something in his voice. It sounded so child-like. So confused. So…innocent. She turned around and looked him in the face. "Did I do something?"

"What are you talking about?" Olivia asked.

"You can hardly look me in the eyes. Did I do something, say something to offend you?" He looked honestly confused.

"No, Elliot. It's just…you're not even dressed. I mean, Kathy calls and she called you her husband and I-," Olivia stopped herself. What the hell was she doing? So what if Kathy called him her husband? He sort of was after all. She was so close to admitting what she didn't even want to admit to herself.

"But I'm not. Kathy and I are over. Why would that bother you?" Though his eyes were still blank there was a small smile flitting across his lips.

"It didn't." said Olivia stupidly. "I mean, it just startled me that she called and…" her voice trailed off and she looked down again.

"Olivia." His voice was no longer child like. It was deep and serious. He took a step closer to her. They bodies were no more than an inch apart. Olivia tried to step back, but her feet wouldn't obey her. Elliot grasped her shoulders and looked at her straight in the eyes. "I love you."

Those three simple words sent her reeling. If Elliot hadn't been holding onto her she would have collapsed. She had waited so long to hear those words. A little voice in the back of her head reminded her of their new identities. They were married so Elliot was doing this for show.

But a stronger voice responded immediately. He had used her real name, not her fake one. He had said Olivia. Suddenly a huge smile appeared on her face and she laughed. She looked up at Elliot.

"Elliot." She closed the distance between them and brought her face very close to his.

"I love you." And she kissed him. They didn't know how long they stood like that, but when they finally broke away Elliot's eyes were no longer blank. They were alight with a flame Olivia had never seen before.

"So what brought this on?" Olivia whispered, burying her head in his chest.

"I don't know. I just…seeing you there…after everything…I knew I couldn't keep it a secret anymore." Elliot shook his head helplessly.

"I know how you feel." Olivia replied.

Elliot placed his finger under her chin and brought her lips to his again.

"Just promise me one thing." Olivia said seriously, pulling away from him.

"Anything." Elliot whispered sincerely.

"Promise me that this is real. Promise me that when we wake up in the morning you won't regret us." Elliot smiled.

"I promise you."

**TBC**

**A/N: I bet you can imagine what happens next. I mean, come on, Elliot in a towel? Yes, well, I figured I should tell you all now that I do not write sex scenes. I may occasionally have a situation that leads to the dirty deed, but I won't actually go into the, uh, details. So you must use all your creative imaginations. Please R&R! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Who's Sleeping with Who**

**Disclaimer: I do not own.**

**A/N: Guess what! The question everyone has been asking is about to be answered. insert drum roll here You find out who is after Elliot and Olivia!! Dun, dun, duuuun…! So read on young fans, read on, your journey is about to begin. (I have no idea why I just said that. Sounded really dramatic though. Tee Hee.)**

"So you're basically saying that we have no idea who is after Elliot and me." Olivia said flatly, staring at Munch. Munch and Fin had dropped by the hotel room shortly before noon. The Captain had sent them to check on Elliot and Olivia. But Munch had noticed that when he had said, "Check on them." It didn't sound like he wanted to make sure they weren't in danger. It sounded almost like they should make sure Elliot and Olivia were still…professional. Munch and Fin had a bet going on. Munch said that Olivia and Elliot had already slept together, but Fin said that they hadn't yet. Yet, watching the interactions between the two partners Fin definitely had to admit that something was up.

Elliot and Olivia had been cooped up in a hotel room for about a week. Granted, they were at the Ritz, but that didn't make up for lack of adventure. Both detectives liked to out and about; working on cases, dealing with personal affairs. When you kept two people like that away from their work there were sure to be consequences. And while Elliot and Olivia may be, uh, seeing the best of each other, they sure as hell weren't going to extend the same courtesy and politeness to anyone else.

"Basically, we haven't got any solid leads." Munch replied calmly.

"What do you mean 'no solid leads?' A bunch of guys shoot up the precinct and there isn't a single clue as to who they are? You've got to be kidding me!" Olivia was in a bad mood. She had been stuck in a hotel room for nearly a week! While it was made worthwhile by Elliot, she was still pissed. She wasn't allowed to be working her own case. Dammit, she hated feeling like a victim!

"I didn't say that. I said we had no _solid _leads. We have many speculations and conspiracy theories." Munch tried for a joke. In truth they really had no leads. Solid or not.

"Don't play with me Munch. I am not in the mood!" Olivia had begun to pace the room. "Goddamn! Who were those guys? How could you not have a single lead? It's been a week!"

"And on that note." Munch said standing up. Fin and Elliot stood as well. "We'll let you and Miss Proverbial Pissiness over there get back to your eventful day."

"Don't you dare mock me!" Olivia hissed starting to go after Munch and Fin. Munch shut the door behind him very quickly.

"Liv." Elliot gently pleaded, laying a hand on her stomach. "It's okay. He's just upset that he can't help us." Olivia took a shuddering breath. She wasn't really mad at Munch; she was just upset that she couldn't provide anything useful.

"I know. I'm sorry. It's just…I'm going crazy that I can't do anything to help." She sighed and leaned against Elliot. She was just so tired of being helpless.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Munch and Fin retreated from the hotel at a very fast pace. Every once in awhile they glanced behind them to make sure that Olivia wasn't charging after them.

"Yeah, well, I didn't refer to her as the Proverbial Pissiness." Fin muttered in response to Munch's many grumbling complaints about how touchy women are. "What the hell possessed you to say that anyway?"

Munch shrugged. He just felt really helpless. Two of his best friends were in danger and he couldn't help them. He slammed his hand on the steering wheel. "Dammit! I can't do anything to help them! What the hell kind of cop am I if I can't even protect two of my friends? I mean what if I lose them? Then I will only have one friend left!"

Fin smiled teasingly. "Am I that one friend?"

"Yeah." Munch replied making a face at Fin that clearly said, 'of course you are, you idiot. Now don't mention it again or I'll kill you!'

"Awwww! John I'm touched." Fin chided.

"Shut the hell up."

"What about Casey? She's your friend." Fin asked, serious once more.

A quick grin flashed across Munch's face. "Well…I mean…define _friend_."

"Oh no!" Fin grinned. "Oooooh Munch! You're sleeping with a lawyer! I am soooooo telling everyone!"

"Shut up! You tell anyone and I'll kill you!" Munch threatened as he pulled into the precinct's parking lot.

"I can't believe you are Casey are-," Fin was cut off when Munch slammed the door. Fin laughed. Oh, his partner! Fin opened the car door and stepped into the bright sunshine.

"Fin!" he turned and saw none other than Casey Novak hurrying towards him.

"Hey Casey. How are you feeling? How's everything, uh, going?" he raised his eyebrows at her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Casey asked, glaring at him suspiciously.

"Nothin.'" Fin replied, grinning innocently.

"Uh-huh." He could tell that Casey knew he was bullshitting. She was a lawyer for Gods' Sake! 'Oh man, what has John gotten himself into?' Fin wondered.

"Anyway," Casey said as they walked into the precinct. "I have something that you should see. By you, I mean John and Cragen too. Are you alright?" she asked Fin, who had coughed loudly when she said Munch's name. Fin nodded and led the way into the bullpen.

"There's John. You two get comfortable and I'll grab the captain." Casey didn't like the way he had passed her off to John. She walked up behind munch and slapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"Hey Case-," he started, but Casey cut him off.

"You told Fin didn't you." It wasn't a question.

"What?"

"Don't play dumb, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You told Fin that we're dating." Munch averted his eyes. Damn, she could be persuasive. Yet, that was what he loved about her.

"Yeah, I told him."

"Why?"

"Because I made a stupid comment and it came back to bite me in the butt."

"Damn straight. You better watch that bony ass of yours." She folded her arms across her chest.

"Always do, sweetheart." He winked at her. Casey looked away and shook her head in faint amusement. Such a sarcastic bastard. But that was why she loved him.

"Are we interrupting anything?" Fin asked coyly.

Casey glared at him. "You better shut up."

In any other situation Fin would have laughed and made a sexist comment just to piss them off, but Casey was not to be trifled with. Nor was Olivia. When they told you to shut up, you shut up.

"What do we got?" Cragen asked, looking curiously between the three of them.

"Well," Casey said giving Fin one last reproving look. "I went to the M.E.'s earlier today because I needed to collect a DNA sample for another case of mine. While I was there Melinda said she had found something interesting. She brought be into a room and had me look through a microscope." Casey threw a picture on the desk. "This is the bullet that grazed my side." Munch flinched slightly when she said that. The wound hadn't been deep, but it gave him quite a scare. She had been back working three days later.

"So?" Cragen asked.

"So, look closely at the bullet." Munch, Fin, and Cragen bent over the picture.

"Oh my god." Munch muttered. "It's got Olivia's name on it!"

"Yes. And this," she threw down another picture. "Has Elliot's name on it. Whoever those guys were they had been planning this for a long time. I know we speculated that this was premeditated, but this is solid evidence. So when we catch the perps they can't say it was on a whim."

"Would it make a difference if it was planned rather than a spontaneous attack? Would their sentence be longer?" Cragen asked.

"No, because, if indicted, they'll get life. By proving that it was premeditated it makes it more likely that the judge will deny bail." Cragen nodded.

"Is there anything else?" he asked.

Casey smiled. "Oh yeah, there's more. We got a DNA sample from one of the bullets. Get this, there was a hair stuck to it. The bullet wasn't fired out of a gun, though. It looks like someone dropped it when loading the gun. Even better, we got a match to the DNA."

"Who's?" Munch asked, urgency evident in his voice.

"It belongs to one Lane White."

"White? As in-," Munch said before Casey cut him off.

"Yeah. As in Richard White. I went back through this precinct's records and found out that you had arrested him seven years ago. Well, he's still in jail so he had nothing to do with it." Casey said quickly, seeing that look of determination flash in John's eyes.

"So is Lane his sister?" Cragen asked.

"No. She's his daughter."

"What?" the three asked her simultaneously.

"Lane White. Daughter of Richard White. Mother, Jane Livingston, deceased. 19 years old. Currently living with her boyfriend, Mark Gitano, on the Upper East Side." Casey read from a report.

"Gitano?" the three asked her again.

Casey nodded gravely. "Mark Gitano. Son of Victor Gitano. His mother, Hannah Albert, is currently residing in Bellevue. Schizophrenic. Currently living with his girlfriend, Lane White, on the Upper East Side."

"Oh boy." Cragen said. "Our two worst cases brought together again. How come we didn't know they had kids? We had their files."

"Apparently criminals like White and Gitano can hide children very well. Scary, right?"

"Damn. White and Victor would do anything to get their hands on Elliot and Olivia. And since Gitano is currently lying in a grave and White is residing in a prison cell, that leaves their children to avenge them."

"That's correct. Lane and Mark are members of a gang known to cops as the Silent Screamers. An oxymoron. They refer to them as that because they attack people no one will miss. The victims can scream and scream, but everyone will pretend not to hear. They just turn their hands. Thus, Silent Screamers." Munch, Fin, and Cragen looked at her in shock.

"You found out all this today?" Fin asked.

"When two of my closest friends are the targets, there are no limits to the speed that I will work at. Anyway, if anyone is behind the attempted murders on myself, Olivia, and Elliot it's them."

"But it doesn't fit their MO." Cragen stated.

"No, but they would be desperate enough to avenge their parents that they go after some not so silent people. Grief and rage can do terrible things to the mind. I suggest you two go pick up White and Gitano before they have a chance to do any more damage."

Little did they know that bigger, more destructive plans had already been set in motion. And that was just the beginning.

**TBC**

**A/N: This is the longest chapter I have ever written, yay! Please, please, please let me know what you think! R&R!!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: My Protector**

**Disclaimer: not mine.**

**A/N: Short chapter. It's basically just updating you about Elliot and Olivia's current situation. Not very action packed.**

"Elliot!" Olivia called. Elliot sat up, blinking sleepily.

"Wha..? Whaz happening?" He asked.

"What the hell is this?" She was holding up a box wrapped in gold paper.

Elliot grinned. "Happy Birthday!"

Olivia was stunned. "You remembered my birthday?" Elliot stared at her.

"Well, duh."

"No, I meant that after all this, everything that's happened and you still remember my birthday. But how did you get it? You never let me out of your sight. Too damn protective." She muttered, only half joking.

"I had Munch buy it." Olivia quickly placed the box on the bed.

"Do you remember the last time Munch bought me a gift. It, like, exploded!"

"It wasn't that bad."

"Uh, yeah, it was! You weren't the one cleaning crap out of your hair three days later." Elliot nodded.

"So?" he asked.

"So what?"

"Aren't you going to open your present?" She looked at him suspiciously.

"You know, Stabler, just because I love you that doesn't mean I won't hurt you."

"Hurt me for what?" 

"For getting me an exploding present."

"Just open the box. It's safe." Olivia nodded. Elliot would never intentionally do anything to hurt her. Intentionally, being the key word. But, she trusted him. She tore the wrapping paper off the box. Inside was a plain white box.

"Oooo, goody!! You got me a box!" she said sarcastically. He laughed. Olivia looked back down at the box and took a deep breath. Then she pulled the lid off the box. Inside was a beautiful gold locket. There were intricate designs all over the outside. She opened it and her eyes filled with tears. There was a note stuffed inside.

Olivia,

I Love You. What else is there to say?

Love, Love, Love,

Elliot.

Olivia was openly crying now. She never cried, but right now she didn't care if the whole world saw her crying. Nothing mattered except that Elliot loved her. Really loved her. And she loved him back. She turned to him.

"Thank you." She laughed and rubbed her forehead. "God, that was lame. I just don't know what to say." She finished helplessly.

"That's part of love, Liv. Not knowing what to say when all you really have to say is 'I love you.'"

"I do." Olivia choked in between tears. "I really, really love you El. Please don't ever forget that."

"No, never." He gently took her face in his hands and pressed a kiss to her lips.

"Never." Olivia echoed and buried her face in his chest. Elliot sat there, holding her, marveling at how much he had fallen for her. But this was one kind of fall he liked. One that wouldn't hurt when he reached the ground. She would be with him always. He was her protector. He would always keep her safe.

Or so he thought.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Ties That Bind**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**A/N: I am not sure how the next few chapters are going to turn out. I feel like I've gone brain dead or something. Okay this chapter focuses on why Lane White and Mark Gitano are after Olivia and Elliot. So it's from their point of view. BTW: Italics are flashbacks. Spoilers for "Fault."**

Lane White and Mark Gitano sat at their kitchen table. They had been discussing their mutual dislike for Benson and Stabler and what they planned to do about it. Lane, who took after her father, was the clever one. The manipulative one. The persistent one. Mark didn't really take after either of his parents. He was the patient one. He got people to trust him, and then ripped that trust out from under their feet in a very violent way. They worked perfectly to together.

"We can't do that!" Lane exclaimed incredulously. "We can't just blow up New York!"

"I don't want to blow up New York." Mark replied coolly. "Just Manhattan."

"Oh, like it makes a difference!" Lane replied throwing her hands into the air. "You imported enough explosives to blow up Manhattan, the Broncs, and Queens!"

"So?"

"So we can't just detonate it!"

"Why not?" he raised his eyebrows.

"Because it too impersonal. I want to see the looks on Benson's and Stabler's faces when they realize they have finally been beaten. Those two think they are so good! Just because they're cops! Just because they're screwing each other!"

"I think the technical term for that is sex." 

"Shut up!" Lane screamed slamming her fists on the table. "They deserve to die! After everything they've done! After what they did to my father!"

"What did they do to you father?" Mark sat up. He had known that Lane had a debt to settle with the detectives, but she had never told him why. Lane stared at him, processing his question.

"You don't know?"

"If I knew, Lane, I wouldn't have to ask." He leaned back in his chair again. He was tired and not in the mood for games.

"Well," Lane said settling herself back down at the table. "The story goes like this."

"_Lane!" Richard White called. "Lane, get down here right now!" Lane came bolting down the steps._

"_What Papa? What is it?"_

"_Never mind that now. Do you remember what we practiced?"_

"_Yes. A, B, C-,"_

"_No, Lane. The other thing we practiced."_

"_Oh no Papa! They found you?"_

"_Yes, Lane. You know what to do. If anyone asks you don't know me. You don't know anything. You are no longer Lane White. You are Jane Knowles."_

"_I know the story, Papa."_

"_Good. Then go!"_

"_But Papa! Will I ever see you again?"_

"_No you won't. I love you Lane. No matter what anyone says, I love you."_

"_Papa!" she screamed as a strange woman dragged her to a car. "No, Papa! Don't leave me! Papa!" But her cries were no use. The car was driving away and her father was nothing more than a speck in the distance._

"_Jane." The woman in the front seat said in a monotone. "I am Lynda Knowles; your new mother. Welcome to your new life."_

…………………………………………………………………………………

"And that's it. My father wasn't a bad man. He never touched me, but he did have strange urges. Sometimes in the middle of the night he would leave the house. One time, when he left, I went into his office and found a picture of Benson and Stabler. There was an X over both of their faces. I was only twelve at the time. They arrested him and he's been in Sing- Sing ever since."

"That's interesting." Mark steepled his hands.

"Excuse me? My pain, my father's pain is interesting to you?!" Lane was standing again. Angry tears were streaming down her face and her hands were balled into fists.

"No. I just think that it's interesting that," he stood up too. "That you only want Benson and Stabler because they _arrested_ your father." His face was contorted into an expression of rage. "They_ arrested_ your father."

"Yes!" her expression was indignant.

"They killed mine." Mark's face was a mask again. Lane didn't reply at once.

"Killed him…?" she echoed stupidly.

"Yes, Lane. Because of their inability to care for anyone other than each other, my father died."

"Well…how? I mean, how did it happen?"

Mark smiled and sat down. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Goddammit Mark! I am not in the mood for mind games right now!"

"Heh. Yeah, I'll tell you the story. Pull up a chair." He kicked the chair across from him so that it skidded from under the table. She sat and stared at him. He smiled. "Come closer and I'll tell you a tale love and vengeance."

"_Mark, I want you to have this." Victor Gitano handed his son a folded up piece of paper._

"_What is this?" Mark was sitting on the couch in the dingy apartment he shared with his father._

"_No questions. Take it and read it when I leave."_

"_What do you mean, 'when you leave'? Where are you going?"_

"_Out."_

"_Well," said Mark chuckling. "Do you plan on coming back?"_

"_No."_

_Mark stood up quickly. "What do you mean? Dad, what's going on?"_

"_Nothing of your concern. One of my jobs went bad."_

"_The little boy and girl?" Mark asked gesturing at the two children tied up in the corner._

"_Yes. The police know who I am. I'm taking them to a warehouse north of here."_

"_How are you going to get there?"_

"_The train."_

"_They are going to have cops surrounding the place. You'll never make it out."_

"_It's a risk I will have to take." Mark nodded. He waited five minutes after his father left, then he got up and followed. He knew where his father was going; he needed to see what was going to happen._

_Half an hour later he spotted his father walking toward a teller in the station. He was going to ask if his "transaction" had come in yet. Mark knew it wouldn't. He had called Eddie Loomis 20 minutes ago and demanded he not send the money. Loomis was an old air force buddy of his dad's. He would cover for Mark if he was questioned._

_Mark looked back at his father. He had stopped and was looking at something to his left. Mark followed his eyes. They came to rest upon a man. He was tall with broad shoulders and icy blue eyes. He was staring at a woman directly in front of him. She had short, straight brown hair and brown eyes. She was looking back at the man. Mark's first guess was husband and wife because both pairs of eyes held nothing but warmth and understanding._

_Mark looked closer. No, they were cops. He could see their ear pieces. Mark looked around again. There was another man wearing an earpiece about 5 feet away from Mark._

"_He's running!" he heard the woman yell. He looked back at his father and, sure enough, he was running. Mark ran after them. Directly in front of him the man and woman cop were chasing his father. Mark veered left; he knew where his father would have hidden he children. He came to the escalators._

"_Ryan!" the man cop yelled. "Ryan! Hey buddy, come here!" The kid wasn't moving. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his father carrying the little girl and the lady cop pull a gun on him._

"_Aaaah!" the little girl, Rebecca, screamed. Suddenly, his father pulled out his knife and swiped the lady cop across the throat. She fell like a rock. Her gun went flying and his father took off toward the escalators. He grabbed the little boy on the way up. The man cop looked between the kids and the lady cop. Making up his mind he ran towards the lady._

"_No, Olivia!" he knelt beside the woman and pulled her halfway onto his lap. Mark hurried forward. He could clearly see the tears in the man's eyes._

"_I'm fine. I'm fine. Where's Gitano? Go, Elliot! I'm fine. Go! Go!" He placed her back on the ground gently and raced for the escalators. The lady laid her head back on the ground and closed her eyes. The she slowly sat up and pushed herself to her feet. She followed the man called Elliot up the escalators. Mark turned and headed for the exit. He knew his father had gotten away. All he had to do was get to the warehouse before his father._

"Is that it?" Lane interrupted.

He shook his head. "No, there's more. But I'll skip the dull parts just for you." He said sarcastically.

_His father, Elliot, and Olivia were all screaming at each other._

"_Put the gun down!" Olivia shouted._

"_Drop it!" Victor shouted._

"_Shoot him!" Elliot screamed._

_Mark's father had Elliot by the collar and a gun to his head. Olivia was holding a gun at her father, but she wouldn't pull the trigger._

"_Olivia, there is no reason to keep this piece of crap alive. Pull the trigger right now. Olivia, pull it! Shoot him!!" Elliot shouted._

"_You know, that little girl, it's possible that she isn't dead. She could be locked up in this building somewhere. Or someplace else, 50 miles away, you don't really know do you?"_

_Mark knew his father was lying. Son of a bitch didn't have the resources to transport the little girl 50 miles. Olivia called him on it. But she still couldn't pull the trigger. She wouldn't pull the trigger._

"_Olivia, you think about me and Rebecca is dead. Pull that trigger. Shoot him. Shoot him." He was pleading with her. "Olivia, shoot him."_

"_Yeah, do that. But, you better make sure you take me out with one shot. One perfect, perfect shot. Of course my reflexes are pretty tight right now; I could pull the trigger before the bullet even hits me. Or maybe you'd miss me all together. Either way there is an 80 chance I'm gonna take this guy's head clean off! But, you try it, definitely, it'll probably turn out great."_

_Oh, his father was good at mind games. But, the lady cop wasn't listening to him anymore. She was staring at Elliot. He was talking quietly to her, but Mark could hear every word they said. So could his father and it scared the crap out of him._

"_You could kill us both Victor, you'll still never walk out of here." She was buying time. She didn't know what to do. Elliot or the little girl?_

"_Right, cause you got some buddies coming, huh? When's that going down?"_

"_Any minute."_

"_Great."_

"_You know, you could put the gun down. At least then you might find her. Otherwise she's gonna die, he's gonna die and it will be all your fault. Just like the little boy."_

"_It's not the same thing, Olivia." Elliot said loudly._

"_Yes, it is Olivia. How's your neck?"_

_There his father went playing mind games again. Elliot was talking softly, but Olivia was only listening to him. Not his father._

"_Olivia. Olivia, look at me. You can do the right thing. I didn't. I made that choice with Ryan and it was wrong."_

"_Elliot." Olivia whispered._

"_It was my fault. Don't do it."_

"Shut up." Victor said, but they weren't listening.

"_Don't make that mistake." Elliot continued._

"_I would have done the same thing." Olivia whispered._

"_Don't make my mistake." Elliot whispered. Somewhere in the building a door burst open. Victor heard it and began shouting. Once again, neither cop was listening._

"_Hey!" his father shouted. Elliot and Olivia were staring at each other. They were speaking with their eyes, but Mark couldn't tell what they were saying. Victor was telling them where Rebecca was, but Olivia knew he was lying._

"_He's lying." She whispered to Elliot._

"_I know."_

"_He's never gonna tell us." Victor said something, but Mark wasn't paying attention. He saw the sniper take his position behind a box. Mark made no move to warn his father._

"_It's all right." Elliot was saying. _

"_I'm sorry." Olivia said in a voice barely above a whisper. She wasn't apologizing because she was going to shoot him; she was apologizing because she wouldn't shoot him. Suddenly the sniper fired. Mark turned and bolted out the door. It wouldn't look good if he was found in the warehouse._

………………………………………………………………………………

"Wow. That is some long story." Lane looked at the clock. "Crap! It's past Mary's feeding time." She stood and walked over to the crib where her sleeping baby lay. "Come on, Mary." She picked the child up and brought her to the table. Mark held out his hands. Lane gave him the baby and went into the cabinet to find the baby food.

**TBC**

**Please, please, please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Daxi**

**Disclaimer: Not belonging to me.**

**A/N: Wow! Lots of reviews, thank you! Ok, I wrote this chapter off the top of my head, so I'm not sure how it's going to turn out. I am introducing a new character in this chapter. She will be super important later on. Also, this chapter steps away from White and Gitano and focuses on El and Liv, so sorry if it's all over the place. Please review and let me know what ya think! ( :**

"Man, it is good to be back!" Olivia said, stretching out in her chair.

"What, you didn't like it in the hotel?" Elliot waggled his eyebrows at her. She turned bright red.

"Don't get used to it." Cragen said coming out of his office. He was holding two folders in his hand.

"What do you mean?" Olivia asked sitting up straight.

Cragen hesitated. He hadn't told them who it was that was after them.

"You said that you knew who was after us and that we could come back." Olivia protested.

"Well, I haven't given you the bad news yet. You aren't in the WPP yet, but if things get any worse you will be." He paused, knowing the bomb he was about to drop. "As for the people who are after you, well, we have to be careful."

"Why?" Elliot broke in.

"Because if they are anything like their parents, they are not going to be the easiest to catch."

"Who are their parents?" Elliot asked.

"Richard White and Victor Gitano." Cragen sighed. There would be no pussyfooting today.

"You mean White and Gitano were…" Olivia let the sentence trail.

"What? Oh, no, no, no. Nothing like that. Richard White has a nineteen year old daughter named Lane White and Victor Gitano has a son named Mark Gitano. We don't know how old he is."

Elliot and Olivia sat there stunned. The two worst cases they had ever had were now joined? Talk about uber-danger.

"So, what now." Olivia said. It wasn't a question, but a statement.

"Well, for one, your names are going to be changed again. All your information is in here." He handed each of them a folder. Olivia opened hers.

"I," she paused as she read. "I am Samantha Rose. I am 38 years old, didn't change the age then." She muttered. "I work for, wow, get this, I work for Dick Wolf! Doesn't he do that show Law and Order? Never liked it."

"Well, I am Cameron Rose. I also work for Wolf." Elliot read. "Uh, we'll skip the age and go right on to where we live. Holy crap!" He exclaimed as he saw where they were going to be living. "This is the nicest condo in all of Manhattan!"

Olivia saw where he was reading and nodded her agreement. "So we're still married?"

"Is that a problem?" Cragen asked. But, there was something in his voice.

"Well, I mean… IAB?" she said it as more of question. Cragen gave her a hard stare.

"You are no longer IAB's concern. Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson do not exist."

"So we are in the WPP." Olivia concluded.

"No. But we removed your files and public records." Cragen closed the door to his office, leaving Olivia and Elliot staring after him.

"I guess we really don't exist then." Elliot looked at Olivia. She just shook her head.

"No, I guess we don't."

………………………………………………………………………………………..

Elliot and Olivia arrived at their new home two hours later. Casey and Munch had come with them. They claimed that El and Liv needed help getting situated. Fin would have come to, but he was needed in court.

Both were disguised as friends of Samantha and Cameron. Casey was wearing a long purple wig that had caused Olivia to laugh so loudly, that half the street had looked out their windows.

"What?" Casey had asked. "I thought all friends of TV producers wore funny wigs." No one answered.

Aside from her purple wig she was also wearing a black turtleneck and black pants. She wore spiked heel boots on her feet. Munch was wearing a pressed business suit and carrying a briefcase.

"Honey," Munch had said when he saw Casey. "Do you have something that you want to tell me?"

"Shut up." Casey had answered.

So, here in the condo, Elliot and Olivia were finally able to wrap their minds around the situation.

"We'd really love to stay, but once again, paperwork to do." Munch said after the foursome had chatted for an hour. "And Casey has to get to her _other_ job." This last comment received a good smack from Casey.

"We'll see you later Sam, Cam. Ah ha ha, it rhymes! Your names rhyme!" Casey laughed. Olivia gave her a look. "Ah, let's go John." And they were gone.

"Well," Olivia said. She felt a bit uncomfortable with it being just her and Elliot. "What-what do you want to do now?" She knew she shouldn't feel uncomfortable, but ever since the stay in the hotel, she felt awkward.

Elliot was staring at her. "You don't have to be nervous Liv. I'm not going to do anything, try anything."

"Oh, I know that. It's just, well, are you sure you want this? I mean, us?"

Elliot smiled and kissed her softly. "Yes." It was like that one word summed it up. Elliot kissed her again and said, "How about dinner?"

"Sure. Where?" Olivia asked grabbing the keys.

"Oh, I don't know." He smiled slyly.

"Yes, you do." Olivia nudged his arm gently.

"Heh." He chuckled. She tried to walk past him to get to the door, but he caught her around the waist and pulled her to him. "Well, I was thinking…"

"Yeah?" she prompted laying her head on his chest.

"Well, there is this new Italian restaurant about two miles from here that I've been wanting to try."

"Oh yeah?" Olivia asked smiling into his shirt. She loved Italian, but she had never told him that. He just knew.

"Yep. Wanna go?" He pulled away and looked into her eyes.

"Sure." She smiled. They headed for the door, quiet banter going back and forth between the two. Olivia opened the door and stopped dead. A girl of about 15 or 16 was standing on the doorstep with her hand raised as if she were going to knock on the door.

The girl smiled shyly. "Uh, hi. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt!" she said when she realized that Olivia had her keys. "It's just that this is yours." She handed Olivia an envelope.

"It's open." Olivia said.

"Yeah, I had opened it before I realized it wasn't mine. It was delivered to our door and I assumed it was for us. Uh, you'll want to read it now." She said as Olivia made to put it on the table by the door.

"Why?"

"Well, I kind of read it. I didn't mean to, but that's how I realized it wasn't mine." She waited as Olivia read it. Olivia looked up at Elliot.

"It says we are not to leave the apartment for the next day or so. It's from Cra- uh, Don." Elliot nodded.

"Well, there's food in the fridge. We could eat here tonight."

"Is there something else?" Olivia asked the girl who still had not moved.

"No. Nothing." But the girl hesitated. "My name's Olivia Stabler. If you need anything I'm in apartment 14-S. Just down the hall." The girl turned to leave.

"I'd kill to have that name." Olivia said smilingly shyly at Elliot. He grinned back and took her hand.

"So would a lot of other people." The girl muttered.

"What?" Elliot asked. But, he had heard the girl correctly.

"Nothing." She answered quickly. "Most people call me Daxi, though."

"Why?"

"Dunno. It's always been that way. So you can call me Daxi if you-,"

"Olivia! You get your ass back in this apartment right now." A woman's voice shouted. The words were slurred and both detectives could tell she was drunk. Both Olivia and Daxi flinched.

"I have to go." Daxi said as she hurried down the hall.

"Wait! Do you want to stay for dinner?" Olivia called after her. Daxi glanced back and grinned.

"Nah, thanks though." The door closed behind her.

"You okay?" Elliot asked as he and Olivia went back into their apartment again.

"Yeah, it's just… That sounded way too much like my mother before she got sober. That girl, Daxi, she's in trouble."

**TBC**

**Please, please, please review!! I love hearing from you guys!!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: The Warning**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**A/N: Wow! Lotsa reviews. By all means, keep them coming. So last chapter a new character, Daxi, showed up. Her name is Olivia Stabler, but I will be referring to her as Daxi to minimize confusion. Daxi is going to be a really important character, so pay close attention to her. Okay, this chapter is also off the top of my head, so I'm a bit nervous. Well, here we go!**

It was a week since Elliot and Olivia had moved into their condo, but there were still no leads as to where White and Gitano were. Since that first night in the condo, neither Elliot nor Olivia had seen or heard from Daxi. Olivia was starting to get really worried.

"Do you think she's alright?" Olivia asked Elliot as she turned down the TV.

"I'm sure she's fine. We would have heard something if she wasn't." Elliot replied pouring two cups of coffee. He could get used to living here with Olivia. He loved waking up and having her there. He loved going to sleep and having her right beside him.

"Maybe not."

"What do you mean?" Elliot asked setting one of the cups of coffee in front of Olivia. She took it gratefully.

"I mean, she can't be older than 15. Which means she goes to school. She'd be out the door before either of us is even up."

"Yeah, but we'd know when she got back. School lets out at 3:30. That puts her back here at 4:00."

"I suppose. But, have you seen her get back? Have you even heard her leave?"

"No." Elliot sighed. He was worried about Daxi too, but Olivia was even more so. She had lived through her mother's drunken rages and had an idea about what Daxi might be going through.

"Maybe I should knock on their door. 14-S right?"

"And what are you going to say? Hi, my name's Sam. I just want to know if your daughter is safe because we think you might be a drunk; do you mind if I come in?" Elliot put down his coffee and looked Olivia straight in the eyes. "And what would Daxi say? Yes, my mother is a drunk and beats me, could you please take me away, even though I hardly know you?"

Olivia sighed and rubbed her forehead. She was not in the mood for Elliot's sarcasm, but she knew he was right. All she had to do was remind herself of hen she was young. When anyone asked if she was okay, she would say yes and walk away. If she was lucky, she would never have to talk to that person again. Daxi wouldn't trust her, but Olivia had to do something.

"I need to make sure she's alright." She checked her watch. "We're up earlier than usual, maybe she hasn't left for school yet." As if in response they heard a door fly open.

"You are going to stay home today, young lady, and clean up this mess!" A woman screamed at the top of her voice.

"I have to go to school!" they heard Daxi yell back.

"No, you are not going someplace where you'll be with friends and leave me to clean this place up! I am having company tonight!"

"Clean up your own mess, mom! Screw your company because it is just another one of your "jobs." That doesn't mean they are company! It means they are lonely and desperate and need someone with a more screwed up life than their own!" Daxi slammed the door shut.

Olivia ran to their front door and opened it in time to see Daxi walk swiftly down the hall and disappear into the stairwell. Olivia opened the door all the way and stepped over the threshold.

"Whoa, wait." Elliot said quickly, hurrying up behind Olivia. "Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna follow Daxi." Olivia said attempting to move away from the door. But, Elliot held her fast.

"Olivia." Elliot tightened his grip as she attempted to pull away. "Olivia, you are not going alone. I won't let you."

"Elliot-,"

"No. No 'Elliot'. I'm going with you."

"Well, then, come on. We're going to lose her."

As they shut the door an important news bulletin flashed across the television screen. It read, Warning: We urge all residents of Manhattan to be on alert for any strange activity. We have been alerted that a gang, known to law enforcement as the Silent Screamers, has been wreaking havoc throughout Manhattan. We urge all Manhattan residents to be on alert…

…………………………………………………………………………………..

Olivia burst out onto the bright street ahead of Elliot. She looked to her left then her right. There, a good distance away she could see Daxi hurrying along the sidewalk. She sped of in that direction, Elliot crossed the street and kept pace with Olivia. It would be way more obvious if they were walking together. He took out his cell and dialed Olivia. She picked up on the first ring.

"Do you have a visual?" She asked Elliot.

"Yeah. You?"

"Yeah. I don't think she's made us. She's got headphones on; I think she's listening to her iPod. Jeez, does every teenager in this city have an iPod?" Olivia muttered, keeping a close eye on Daxi.

"Try every teenager in America." Elliot responded. He sped up. "Liv, I lost her. I don't know where she went."

"She's- Crap, she's gone!" Olivia exclaimed looking around. Elliot crossed the street and came up next to Olivia. "Where is she?" Olivia asked, her eyes scanning the crowd. They were walking passed an alley when Olivia and Elliot were both pulled into it.

"Why are you following me?" Daxi demanded. She sounded a lot older and more commanding than most 15 year olds.

"Well we, uh…" Olivia's voice faltered.

"How'd you know we were following you?" Elliot cocked his head to the side and looked at her curiously.

Daxi looked at him like he had two heads. "Well, you weren't exactly being discreet."

"Daxi, have you been tailed before?" Olivia asked catching Elliot's train of thought. Daxi turned her stare on Olivia.

"No. Why would you think that?"

"You weren't really listening to your music, were you?" Elliot said. "It was a ploy. You were faking."

"Yeah. That's how I knew for sure that you were following me. When you saw that I had my headphones on, you sped up. You weren't as careful as you should have been." Daxi had begun walking again. "If you want to follow me so much, walk me to school."

Elliot and Olivia followed Daxi out of the alley with incredulous looks on their faces.

"What do you want to know?" Daxi asked not turning around.

"Pardon?" Elliot asked.

"You obviously want to know something, or you wouldn't have followed me."

"We just wanted to make sure you were okay." Olivia answered.

"I'm fine." She had stopped. She turned and looked between Elliot and Olivia. "This is about my mother, isn't it?" She phrased it as a question, but it was clear she knew already. Olivia nodded.

"Look, Daxi, my mother was abusive too." Olivia said putting her hand on Daxi's arm. Daxi stepped out of Olivia's reach.

"My mom isn't abusive. Sure, she's a bitch, but she'd never hurt me."

"Look, I know how hard it can be to face-," Olivia started.

"I'm sure you do. I, however don't." Daxi looked closely at Olivia. "I'm sorry about your mom, but just because my mom yells that doesn't mean she's abusive." Daxi turned around. "I have to get to school. I'm already late as it is. If that was all you wanted to ask me, I would like to continue alone."

Elliot grabbed Daxi's arm. "I know some people who could help you." Daxi looked at where Elliot was holding her arm and then she looked at his face.

"Don't touch me. I don't like to be touched." Daxi twisted out of his grasp.

"She sounds a lot like you." Olivia said to Elliot. "But, Daxi, if you'd only come with us, we know people who could help you."

"I don't need help." Daxi looked between them and sighed. "Will it get you off my back if I go with you?" Olivia smiled.

"Yes."

Daxi nodded. "On one condition. We walk there."

Elliot hesitated. "It's a bit of a long walk."

"S'okay. I don't mind walking." Elliot could tell that the girl was calculating their reactions. She was interesting in that way. She knew way more about "cop" stuff than she should. Perhaps police officers had already questioned her about her mother?

………………………………………………………………………………

Half an hour later the trio arrived at the precinct.

"What are you guys, cops?" She asked.

"No." said Elliot quickly. Olivia smacked his arm. 'Way to look guilty, Elliot.' She said with her eyes.

"I see." Daxi's voice was expressionless. She walked into the precinct in front of Elliot and Olivia. "Where to?"

"3rd floor and to the right." Olivia said glancing at Elliot. Daxi went to the elevator and waited silently as it took them up 3 floors. When the doors opened she stepped out and walked into the Special Victims squad room.

"Special Victims, huh?" Daxi scanned the room. Her eyes stopped on Munch, Fin, and Casey who had all looked up when Elliot and Olivia walked in.

"Sam! Cam! What are you guys doing here?" Casey asked standing. Munch and Fin stood too.

"We thought that Daxi here would like to talk to Dr. Huang." Elliot answered.

"Whoa, a psychiatrist? You didn't say-," But Munch cut Daxi off.

"Well, you're in luck. Huang's here. He's in the Captain's office." Munch said. Casey was still staring at Daxi.

"Um, okay. I've got it from here." She told Elliot and Olivia, giving Casey a hard look. Casey looked away quickly. Suddenly the Captain's door opened.

"Samantha, Cameron could I talk to you for-," he stopped when he saw Daxi. "Oh no." he whispered.

"Captain, this is Daxi. We think she should talk to Huang." Olivia said ushering Daxi forward. Elliot was close behind them.

"Yes, of course, in my office, then." Daxi looked at Cragen over her shoulder as they stepped into his office.

"Hi." Daxi extended her hand to Huang. He glanced at Cragen then shook her hand.

"Pleased to meet you. My name is George Huang, but you may call me George."

"Alright. I'm Daxi. You can call me Daxi." Huang smiled.

"Is Daxi your real name?" Huang asked.

"No. My name is Olivia Stabler." Huang glanced quickly at Cragen. Cragen shrugged.

"That's a very…interesting name." Huang said.

"Really? I find it quite boring."

"Okay Olivia-,"

"Daxi." She corrected. Huang nodded.

"Daxi. Could you please describe yourself to me?"

"Uh, sure." She replied slowly. "I have long hair, and blue eyes."

"What color is your hair?"

"Black." She answered slowly once again. "Uh, I'm about 5'5, slender, and I'm 15. That's about it."

"What do you like to do?"

"I like to read, write, listen to music. Whatever I feel like doing at the moment."

"And your family?"

"Is fine." She gave Huang a hard glance. Cragen gave him a warning look.

"Well, Daxi, I'm sorry. I have to go, but I will be in touch." He handed her a card and left the office. Elliot and Olivia looked between the Cragen and Daxi, but the captain shook his head.

"Captain, you'll want to see this." Fin stuck is head in the room. Cragen, Elliot, Daxi, and Olivia followed Fin out of the room. Fin had the TV turned to the news.

"And this just in," a reporter was saying. "Eight bodies were discovered this morning outside this Manhattan apartment." They showed a picture of the building and, inwardly, Olivia gasped. That was her apartment building. "Police have no leads as to who committed this heinous crime at this time. The only clues they have to go on are words that were found on each of the eight bodies. I quote: Elliot, Olivia, Daxi. We are coming for you."

"The names of the victims have not been released yet, but we urge all residents in the area to call this number if you witness anything." Another reporter said as a number flashed on the screen.

"Holy crap." Elliot muttered.

"Daxi, I want to talk to you in my office." Cragen said. Elliot and Olivia started to follow, but Cragen stopped them. "Only Daxi. She's a civilian. She needs to be briefed and given protection."

Daxi followed Cragen into his office and shut the door behind her.

"Do you want a detail?" Cragen asked.

"You know perfectly well I can take care of myself captain." She answered. She looked out the window at the detectives. "I have to do this alone."

**TBC**

**A/N: Please review! I don't think this turned out as well as I had hoped it would. Any and all comments are welcome.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: A Surprise for Casey**

**Disclaimer: Not mine**

**A/N: Well, you can obviously tell that something big is going to happen to Casey from the title. Since I really didn't like the last chapter I promise this one is going to be better. It's got more info and isn't so cloak and dagger-y. Please review!! Enjoy!!**

Three days after they had brought Daxi in to the station and Olivia hadn't let her out of her sight. Daxi didn't mind; as long as Olivia didn't interfere with her life. So far she hadn't.

"Hey." Daxi said as she walked towards Elliot and Olivia. School had just let out and they were sitting on the steps outside the school. They had been waiting for her everyday after school. Olivia would have gladly gone to all her classes with her, but seeing as she wasn't Detective Olivia Benson at the moment, it would look sort of suspicious if she did. "I'm hungry. Let's go for pizza." Daxi said as they walked to the car. "Or Chinese." She said. She glanced over shoulder then hurriedly got into the car. Elliot followed her gaze, but he didn't see anything.

"Everything okay?" he asked as he got into the drivers' side.

"Yep. Just really, really hungry." She widened her eyes to emphasize her point. Elliot laughed.

"Okay let's get you some food!" he started the car and pulled away from the curb. He was only half listening to the idol chat between Olivia and Daxi when Daxi suddenly addressed him.

"Could you go faster?" she asked.

"That hungry?" he answered.

"No, we're being followed." Daxi replied turning to look behind her. Olivia turned too and Elliot looked into the rearview mirror.

"Hold on." He said as he sped up.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

"Captain, we just got a call from Elliot. He's requesting back-up. Says that they're being tailed." Fin said when he stuck his head in the captain's office.

"Who's with him?" Cragen stood.

"Uh, says he's with Olivia and…oh boy. He's got the girl, Daxi, with him too."

"Where are they?" Cragen followed Fin out of his office

"They're in Central Park." Munch said walking over. "By the statue of George Washington."

"Munch, Fin, I want you two out there."

"Just us?" Fin asked.

"We can't have anyone else knowing anything. You two are plenty. Just get them out of there."

…………………………………………………………………………………

Munch and Fin arrived at Central Park. They spotted Elliot, Olivia, and Daxi walking close to the statue. They were acting like a regular tourist family. Elliot was pointing at something in the distance, Daxi was smiling, and Olivia was holding Elliot's hand.

"Excuse me? Mr. and Mrs. Rose?" Elliot and Olivia turned at the sound of Munch's voice. "Your boss, Mr. Wolf, has been looking for you. He's aware that it is your day off, but would like it if you could come into the office."

Munch and Fin were walking towards Elliot and Olivia when Fin nudged Munch's arm discreetly. "I think that's the tail." He whispered, casually raising his hand to scratch his head. Munch followed Fin's hand gesture. Sure enough, a dark sedan with tinted windows was slowly circling the fountain. To the untrained eye it would look like the car was just circling for a parking space. They finally reached Elliot and Olivia.

"Your presence is kindly requested." Munch repeated.

Elliot, Olivia, and Daxi followed the two detectives to their car. Once they were seated Daxi's smile vanished. She massaged her jaw. "I don't think that I have ever smiled that much in my life." She lightly smacked Munch's arm. "If that ever happens again don't take your sweet time getting here, okay?"

Munch laughed. "Sure thing."

"But, there won't be a next time." Elliot said sternly. Munch and Daxi were acting as though they had known each other forever. Fin drove them back to the station. When they walked into the squad room they saw Casey sitting at Munch's desk with her head down. She looked up when they walked in.

"Sam, can I talk to you for a second?" Casey stood up. She was wearing jeans and a large sweatshirt. There were dark circles under her eyes and her face was beyond pale.

"Sure." Olivia said a little delayed because she still wasn't used to be being called by Samantha. Daxi watched Olivia lead Casey up to the crib then turned to Elliot.

"So, how about that Chinese? Do you guys order out?" she asked sitting down in a chair next to Olivia's desk. Elliot nodded, picked up the phone, and ordered the food. When he hung up he looked towards the crib. Olivia had been gone a long time. He hoped everything was okay.

…………………………………………………………………………………

"I'm pregnant." Casey said. "I'm pregnant."

"Wow!" Olivia sat next to Casey on one of the beds. "Congratulations! Who's the lucky daddy?"

"You'll never guess." Casey said. A faint smile played across her lips. "John."

"John what? Wait, you don't mean…?" Casey nodded a full smile on her face. "Oh my god Casey! How long have you been sleeping with him?"

"A month."

"Oh my God!!" Olivia and Casey both screamed and jumped about. Downstairs, Elliot, Munch, Fin, and Daxi heard the screaming. They ran up the stairs; Elliot in the lead, then Daxi.

"Olivia!" Elliot shouted as he burst into the room. He realized his slip and glanced at Daxi. She didn't appear to have noticed; she was staring at something in the room. Elliot turned, heart pounding, and his jaw dropped. Olivia and Casey were jumping up and down, screaming. Casey suddenly stopped.

"Excuse me." She said and dashed for the bathroom.

"What's going on?" Munch and Elliot asked Olivia at the same time.

Olivia shook her head, still smiling. She ran up to Elliot and put her arms around him. "Casey's pregnant." She whispered into his ear. "Don't tell." Elliot hugged her back, stunned.

Fin turned and left the room grumbling. Daxi could have sworn she saw Fin slip money into Munch's outstretched palm.

"What's going on?" Munch asked again, slipping the money into his pocket.

Casey came out of the bathroom. She still looked pale, but she was exuding happiness. "Case, what's up?" Munch asked walking up to Casey. Elliot glanced at Olivia as if to say, "He's the father?" Olivia nodded and Elliot shook his head.

"I'm pregnant." Casey said.

"You're huh?" Munch asked.

"Pregnant. I'm pregnant!" Casey repeated grabbing Munch's hands.

"Holy…" Munch said, but he was smiling. "And who's the father?"

"Who do you think?"

"Me?" Casey nodded her smile growing wider.

Daxi watched the two couples. Elliot and Olivia were still wrapped in each other's arms. Elliot was stroking Olivia's hair and they were both laughing. Munch and Casey were also hugging, but their hug was different. Their hug was a little awkward, kind of new. Elliot and Olivia's hug was safe, comfortable. Daxi smiled, but her grin faltered and a slight frown graced her face. She slowly backed out of the room. She went down the stairs and walked up to Fin.

"So guess what." She said to Fin.

"What?" he looked up.

"Casey's pregnant."

"Huh?"

"And guess who the father is."

"What?" Fin repeated.

"Your partner." Fin choked.

"John is going to be a father? Damn, I knew they were sleeping together, but damn!!"

Daxi laughed.

"Did someone order Chinese?" a delivery boy had entered the squad room.

"Yeah, we did." Daxi stood and took the money Elliot had left for the food off his desk. She handed it to the boy who blushed when he accidentally brushed her hand with his. She took the food and set it on Fin's desk.

"Boys." She muttered as she opened the bag. "Shit!" she pulled her hand out of the it.

"What?" Fin jumped up and looked at her hand. There was a deep gash running the length of her hand and a little way up her wrist.

"Ow! Goddammit!" she pulled her hand away from Fin. "Hey!" she yelled at the delivery boy. "Hey kid!" he turned and saw her hurrying after him. He bolted. "Hey!" Daxi yelled again and took off after him.

"Daxi!" Fin yelled. He ran after her, but she was fast. She was gaining on the kid. She reached out and grabbed him by the collar with her good hand. She spun him around and slammed him into the wall.

"Who are you?" she demanded holding him by his throat. Fin came up behind her.

"Daxi, let me-," Fin said. He was slightly out of breath.

"Who are you!" she yelled over Fin. The boy was shaking so badly that he couldn't speak. Daxi released him and pushed him at Fin. "You can deal with this." Fin handed the boy to an officer and told him to take the kid to interrogation 3.

Fin turned around. Daxi was leaning against the wall. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly and her face was white. She was clutching her hand. "The bleeding. It won't stop bleeding…" And with that she collapsed on the floor.

**TBC**

**A/N: You know how I love hearing from you guys! Please review!! **


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Stubborn**

**Disclaimer: do not own. Except Daxi, she's mine.**

**A/N: Wow! I have been working on this story for exactly a month. I hope you have all enjoyed it so far! Thank you to all those who reviewed, It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy! LOL! **

**Anyway, in the last chapter Elliot, Olivia, and Daxi were being tailed, but Munch and Fin got them out. Then we found out that Casey is pregnant…with John's baby! Hee-hee! But, then, on a more serious note, Daxi sticks her hand into the Chinese food bag and gets cut. She chases after the delivery boy, who runs, but when she catches him he's too scared to talk. Daxi collapses and now you get to find out why… Enjoy!!**

"Daxi!" Fin yelled dropping to his knees beside her still form. "Daxi, come on, wake up! Say something!" He felt for a pulse. It was there, but it was weak and erratic. "I need a bus!" he yelled. He took off his jacket and created a makeshift tourniquet in an attempt to stop the bleeding. 'This is insane.' He thought. 'It shouldn't still be bleeding this badly.'

…………………………………………………………………………………….

Elliot, Olivia, John, and Casey heard Fin yelling for a bus. They all dashed down the stairs and followed Fin's voice into the hallway by the elevator. John and Casey ran to Cragen's office to get help. Elliot and Olivia ran up behind Fin.

"Who is it? Who's hurt?" Elliot asked his heart pounding so hard he thought it might break his chest.

"It's Daxi." Fin said. He was still holding the jacket to her hand. The blood was still pouring steadily out.

"What happened?" Olivia asked kneeling beside Daxi. She put her hand on the girl's face. "Oh my God! She's cold." Olivia was nearly in tears and her panic became evident in her voice. "What happened?" she repeated.

Fin didn't answer. Daxi's face was beyond white and she was indeed cold. Her eyes were closed and her chest was barely moving. Elliot could hear the sirens wail outside the precinct.

"Fin, what happened!" Olivia screamed. She shook his arm violently.

Fin looked at her with lost eyes. "I don't know."

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Five minutes later Daxi was being rushed into the ER. None of the detectives had been allowed to ride along so they had followed in two cars. Elliot and Olivia were in one and John, Casey, and Fin were in another. Fin was white-faced and hadn't spoken a single word. Inside his head, though, he was screaming. He could have prevented this! If he had reached into the bag first it would be him on the gurney, not her. Why hadn't the bleeding stopped?

"She needs a transfusion immediately!" one of the female surgeons yelled.

"Blood type?" a male doctor asked.

"O negative." She answered.

"Any family?"

"No, but four detectives and an ADA came in with her. Find out if any of them are O negative!"

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

The male doctor walked into the waiting room. A brunette female was screaming at one of the nurses. The man standing next to her was silent, but he was glaring at the nurse with such intensity it was a wonder that she didn't burst into flames. The nurse was crying, desperately trying to say that she didn't know anything about the girl's condition.

A blonde woman was yelling at a nurse behind the desk. She was insisting that they be able to know what's going on. The man standing next to her was also yelling at the nurse saying that if anything happened to the girl they were all going to be arrested. He didn't specify on what count but he swore he would do it.

Another man was sitting in a chair in a far corner of the room. The doctor walked over to him, for he seemed to be the calmest.

"Excuse me sir." The doctor said politely, but the man didn't look up. "Are you here for," he consulted his chart. "Daxi?" the man's head snapped up at the mention of the girl's name.

"So much blood…" was all the man said. The doctor tried to explain the situation to him but the man appeared to be incoherent.

"You!" the brunette suddenly yelled. The doctor turned around. "You're a doctor. What's going on? Is she going to be alright?"

Under any other circumstances the detectives would have been acting normally. They would have been calm and collected, but this was not a normal circumstance. Though it appeared that they had only known Daxi for a few days each of them had developed a sort of connection with her. They couldn't allow these doctors to lose her.

The doctor jumped right to the point. "She needs a transfusion. She's lost a lot of blood."

"Well, what blood type does she have?" the brunette asked holding onto the man beside her.

"She O negative." The brunette collapsed against the man.

"We're not a match. Neither of us. We can't save her." The woman whispered into the man's chest.

"I know, but she'll be alright." He was stroking her hair, but his eyes found the doctors. The message they conveyed was clear: She better be alright, otherwise, you'll be sorry.

"I'm O negative!" the blonde woman said turning around.

"But you can't give blood." The man beside her said. "You're pregnant."

"But I can still give blood, right? Just because I'm pregnant…that doesn't mean…?"

"I'm afraid you can't give blood. It would be a risk to the baby's life…and yours." The doctor said. He was becoming desperate. If he didn't find a donor soon he would lose the child. It was a miracle she had lasted this long. But, the human body has a breaking point and she was reaching hers.

"I'm O negative." The man beside the blonde woman said stepping forward.

The doctor's eyes widened. "Please, sir, come with me." The two men hurried off down the hall. Casey collapsed into a chair holding her head in her hands. Olivia was still wrapped in Elliot's arms and Fin was still just sitting there.

……………………………………………………………………………….

Five hours later a female doctor walked into the waiting room. The male doctor working opposite her had refused to deal with those people again.

"You go have fun telling the four bad-ass cops and one hard-ass lawyer the news." He had said to her before slamming the door to his office. Big baby would probably hide in there until the people were gone.

"Detectives? Counselor?" she said looking around the room. All she saw here were five very lost looking people. They looked up as she addressed them. A brunette woman stepped forward.

"Detective Olivia Benson." The woman said. She offered no greeting and she extended no hand. "This is my partner Detective Elliot Stabler. Our colleagues Detective Fin Tutuola, you've already met Detective John Munch, and this is ADA Casey Novak." She finished the introductions and stared hard at the doctor. Her partner came up behind her and placed his hand on the small of her back. A very un- coppish gesture in the doctor's opinion.

The others had all stood up too. She looked into their faces and gave a wide smile. "She's going to make a full recovery." It was as if she let the air out of a balloon. Detective Benson and Detective Stabler had collapsed into one another's arms. Casey and Detective Munch were also hugging, but their hug was different in a way the doctor couldn't describe. And Detective Tutuola sat in his chair once again. The color slowly returned to his face.

"Thank you." Benson whispered before turning back to Stabler. As she turned her head Stabler caught her face in his hands.

"I love you." He whispered and kissed her. Olivia didn't care that she had broken their cover. She was tired of waiting. Tired of hiding. She was going to face this problem head on and she knew Elliot would be right beside her.

"I love you too." She whispered laying her head on his chest. "So much."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"I said, get away from me!" They heard Daxi yelling as they approached her room. She had woken up sooner than the doctor's expected and had a lot more energy than they thought possible. "No, don't you come near me with that." They heard one of the nurses say something. "It's like seven inches long! No, touch me with that and you die."

Daxi was threatening the nurse, she was just pissed. Elliot and Olivia entered the room first. They were happy that Daxi was going to be alright, but fighting the nurses probably wasn't the best idea.

"Miss, please!" the nurse pleaded. She was indeed holding a very long needle. Daxi was sitting up in bed; her left hand was bandaged halfway up to her elbow.

"My name is Daxi." She wasn't shouting anymore. She was glaring at the nurse and had her arms folded over her chest. "I don't need that. I feel fine."

The nurse threw her hands into the air. "Detectives!" she said when she saw them. "Would you please tell Miss Daxi here that we are only trying to help her?" Olivia glanced at Daxi. The girl hadn't even batted an eye when the nurse had addressed them as detectives. It didn't even appear that she was paying attention. She was glaring at the nurse, but her eyes were glazed and she had leaned back onto the pillow.

"I don't need it." Daxi repeated. "I'm not in any pain."

"Miss-,"

"Ma'am?" Elliot broke in. "May I talk to you for a second?" the nurse gave Daxi one last reproving glance. In turn, Daxi stuck out her tongue. Olivia covered her mouth with her hand to hide her laugh. Daxi caught the gesture and gave Olivia a wide grin.

Olivia followed the nurse and Elliot out into the hallway. She shut the door behind her.

"What happened to her exactly?" Olivia asked.

"What do you mean?" the nurse answered.

"Why didn't the bleeding stop?"

"We found traces of a very rare poison known as Methynol Calcinite in the wound. It's a poison that doesn't allow the body to stop the bleeding."

"And how does that work?" Elliot asked.

"It directly attacks a gene known as P53. This gene basically fixes problems in your body. When you get cut P53 allows your body's cells to replicate in order to heal the body. Methynol Calcinite temporarily freezes P53 and the body's cells cannot replicate in the normal manner."

"You said it's rare?" Olivia asked. "So we're looking for a scientist."

"Maybe not." Olivia and Elliot glanced questioningly at her. "It's hard to make, but if you have the right equipment you can make it in your home. It pretty much has the same basic structure as the drug Meth. Add a few more steps and you get the poison that infected Daxi."

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

"Captain, it's Elliot." He said into his phone a half and hour later. "Listen, we found out why Daxi didn't stop bleeding."

"Yeah, we just heard." The captain interrupted. "Warner called. After you left to take Daxi to the hospital I had the "chinese food" sent to Warner. She said that it was a drug called Methynol Calcinite or something."

"Yeah, we heard that too. What was in the bag, Captain?"

Cragen hesitated. "Well there was chinese food at the bottom, but that contained a poison known as Ethycanite Phosphate. It affects the heart and will kill you in about ten seconds. Whoever sent the food obviously knew you weren't going to eat it, but the food poison was a safeguard."

"And how did they know we weren't going to eat the food?"

"Because of what else was in there."

Elliot was getting frustrated. "What was in there?"

"A knife. Four to be exact. They were sticking up in the bag, so whoever stuck their hand in there first would be cut.

"Captain, who was the intended target?"

"Daxi." Elliot didn't reply at first.

"So they knew that we were up in the crib while Daxi and Fin were downstairs."

"It looks that way."

"That means that they're watching us."

"Yes." The captain sighed. "I'm sorry Elliot."

"No problem." Elliot hung up in a daze. Daxi was really involved now. All because he and Olivia had wanted to help her they ended up putting her in harm's way. She could die and it would be all their fault. But, he reminded himself. She almost had died.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Elliot walked back into Daxi's room to find her out of bed and dressed and Olivia nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Olivia?" he asked causing her to jump.

"I told her I was thirsty. She offered to get me some water." Daxi turned all the way around to face Elliot.

"What are you doing?" but he knew full well what she was doing.

"I'm going home." She sat on the bed still looking at Elliot. "Please don't try to stop me."

"You can't just leave. You're hurt-,"

"I was hurt. I'm better now. I've had way worse injuries before."

"But you were poisoned."

"And they flushed it all out of my system. I'm in perfect working order now."

Elliot shook his head. He couldn't blame her for wanting to leave. "Okay," he conceded. "I'll agree to this only if you let us drive you home." Daxi smiled.

"Thanks."

"Daxi…" Elliot started.

"Yeah?"

"Did you know who Olivia and I were?"

"What do you mean?" she asked bending down to retrieve her shoe.

"Whenever one of us slipped up and used our real names you pretended not to hear. But, you knew who we were the entire time." Daxi was saved from answering when Olivia walked into the room.

"I got your wa-," she stopped when she saw Daxi fully dressed. "And you're going where?"

"Home." Daxi answered avoiding Elliot eye.

"We're going to give her a ride." Elliot said willing to drop Daxi and his discussion for now. "C'mon Daxi, we're gonna bust you out!"

**TBC**

**A/N: Okay, I didn't feel particularly evil, so I didn't leave it on a cliffhanger. I should also tell you that I made up both poisons in this chapter. I'm too lazy to actually look up actual poisons and I don't even know if poisons like the one I described exist. The gene P53 does exist, but I don't know if I described what it does correctly. Apparently, I don't know quite a bit. And I'm sorry that the EOness in the story has taken the back seat. But, it's a bit hard to write a discreet relationship between them.**

**So what did you think? Please R and R! (I just love it when people tell me how great I am.) LOL!!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: When Someone Dies…**

**Disclaimer: I only own Daxi. Nothing else.**

**A/N: This, I think, is going to be my least favorite chapter. You all are probably going to hate me. All of my stories have had a happy ending so far, but this actually made me cry as I wrote it. This is not the end of the story, but it's the end of something. WARNING: You may need tissues.**

"So you don't think Daxi is at all odd?" Elliot had been asking Olivia the same question since they had gotten back from the hospital yesterday. "Not even the slightest bit?"

"No, Elliot, for the millionth time I don't." Olivia was starting to get really annoyed.

"You don't think it's weird that she never noticed when we slipped up? And you don't think it's weird that she knew so much about cop stuff?"

Olivia laughed. "And what exactly is cop stuff?"

"You know, she knew we were tailing her, she knew when we were being followed, and from what Fin told me, she threw that delivery boy against the wall just like a cop."

"What are you saying? You think she's a cop? She's 15, Elliot! Not even old enough to drive."

"I guess. But, it just seems too coincidental." Elliot was being really persistent. Olivia sighed.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore. Do you want coffee?" She got out of bed and walked to the door.

"Please." Elliot nodded and also stood up. They walked out together.

"Hey." Daxi said looking up from the newspaper she was reading. Elliot and Olivia stopped. "Love the outfits." She went back to reading the newspaper. Olivia blushed. She was only wearing one of Elliot's shirts and Elliot was only in his boxers.

"I'm just going to go put on a shirt." Elliot turned and went back into the room.

"How'd you get in here?" Olivia asked.

"Are you kidding? I could pick a lock when I was three. I could do it with my eyes closed at four." Olivia looked at the door handle.

"There are no signs of forced entry."

"Well, there wouldn't be would there? Done right, it only looks like someone used a key." Daxi looked at Olivia over the paper.

Olivia shook her head. This kid was something else.

"What did you do to your bandage?" Elliot asked as he emerged from the bedroom fully dressed.

Daxi flashed them a grin. "I didn't like the white."

"So you…?"

"So I colored it with a black sharpie."

"You do realize that the bandage will eventually have to be changed."

"Yeah, and I'll color that one too." She smiled again and Elliot shook his head. Olivia grinned. Looking between Elliot and Daxi she felt as if she had come home. She knew it was stupid, but she felt like she was part of a family.

Elliot's phone rang. "Stabler." He answered.

"Elliot, it's me." The captain said.

"What's up, Cap?"

"I need you and Olivia down at the station now. Bring Daxi too."

"Why?"

"White and Gitano have made contact."

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

Daxi entered the precinct before Elliot and Olivia.

"What's going on?" Olivia asked as soon as she sat down.

"Here." Cragen placed a piece of paper in front of Olivia. He then gave one to Elliot and Daxi too.

"You may not know us, but you know who we are." Daxi read aloud. "I assume you understand the nature of our situation, so I won't go into the boring details. This is a warning that you'd do better to heed. By now your captain must have sent someone to the location that this letter was sent from. All they will find is blood and a lot of it." Daxi paused.

"You sent Munch and Fin?" Olivia asked the captain. He nodded and motioned for Daxi to continue.

"We don't want to deal. We just want you. The three of you; Stabler, Benson, and Daxi. We wouldn't have had to involve the girl, but your concern for her has made it impossible for us to ignore her. So because of you, detectives, she will die. How does that make you feel?

We'd love to continue to play this game, but we don't have the time. We want this over and we're sure you do too. No more hiding, no more running. It's time to end this. But, we want to make sure you understand how serious we are. A message is on its way."

"I don't like the way that last part sounds." Olivia said leaning back in her chair. "'A message is on its way.' What does that mean?"

"Captain!" a rookie yelled running into the room. "Captain, we have a situation!"

"What? What's wrong?" the captain asked. Elliot, Olivia, and Daxi stood up.

"We have a hostage situation." The rookie bent over. He was out of breath.

"Who?"

"One of your detectives. His partner got the call out."

"Who is it?" Cragen grabbed the rookie by his collar.

"Detective Munch, sir."

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Elliot, Olivia, Daxi, and Cragen arrived at the warehouse ten minutes later.

"Fin! What's going on?" Elliot called.

"I don't know. We were scoping out the warehouse and we split up. I went right and John went left. He was making some sarcastic joke over the radio, when I heard him yell. At first I thought he fell or something, but then someone else came over the radio. They said that they had my partner and to call my captain. They took him inside and I haven't heard anything since."

"It's not your fault." Olivia said patting his arm. She opened her mouth to say something else, when Fin's radio squawked.

"Detective." A garbled voice said.

"This is Fin." He said. The hand holding the radio was shaking.

"You follow directions well. You've called your friends. Now, if you can follow this one just as well, you'll get off. Send in the girl."

"What girl?" Fin asked.

"Don't play dumb. Send in Daxi."

"I won't." Fin said, but Daxi shook her head.

"I'm going in." she said.

"No, you can't." Olivia said grabbing her arm.

"I can't just let him die!" she yelled and wrenched her arm from Olivia's grasp. She took off towards the warehouse.

"Daxi!" Olivia yelled running after her.

"Stop!" Elliot and Fin yelled also running after her.

Daxi bolted into the warehouse and shut the door behind her. The door automatically locked. She heard the three detectives banging on the door, trying to kick it down. Daxi took a deep breath and looked around. She was standing in large room. There were only two lights and both were flickering, giving the room a ghostly look.

She walked deeper into the building. A noise to her right caused her to dart behind a large crate. She looked around the edge and came face to face with a large man.

"Aaah-," But her scream was cut off when he wrapped his hand around her throat. He lifted her off the ground as if she were a toothpick. Daxi didn't struggle as he carried her to the back of the room. She knew that would only kill her faster.

The large man threw her against the wall and she slid down to the floor. He turned and walked to the far corner. Once she could see clearly again she stood up and followed the man into the corner. "John!" Daxi yelled running over to the fallen man.

He was lying on his stomach. One of his arms was bent at an odd angle and there were bruises covering his entire body. "John!" she said again kneeling beside him. "Wake up, come on!"

"It's no use. He's out cold; I made sure of it." A woman said stepping out of the shadows. She was holding a bat.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Outside Elliot and Olivia were still trying to break down the door.

"Open the goddamn door!" Olivia yelled to no one imparticular. She hit the door again and collapsed against it. "It's no use Elliot." She said sliding to the floor. "We've killed her."

"No! She's not dead! She's not dead and John's not dead. They can't be." He slid to the floor beside Olivia and covered his face with his hands. Both were openly crying. One of their best friends and an innocent minor were trapped in that building. And it was all their fault.

"Olivia!" Casey yelled running to the two detectives. "The captain called me. Is it true? Is John really in there?" her face was white and it looked like her world depended on Olivia's answer.

"Yes." Olivia said miserably. "It's true. They have Daxi now too."

"Wha…?" Fin caught Casey as she started to fall. "Not John." Casey was muttering under her breath. Her eyes were wild and she couldn't stand. Fin eased her onto the steps.

"They'll be okay. They'll be okay." Fin repeated over and over. He was not only trying to convince Casey, but he was also trying to convince himself. John was his best friend and he was the father of Casey's baby.

Elliot and Olivia were holding onto each other. Neither wanted to let go for fear that one would disappear.

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

"Leave him alone." Daxi said. She was standing protectively over his body. The woman with the bat was standing in front of Daxi, swinging the bat threateningly.

"I used to play baseball with my dad. Until Benson and Stabler arrested him that is."

"I don't care about your vendetta. Frankly, I don't have any patience for them. But, if you want to kill me, fine, do it. Just let him go." Daxi said staring at the woman.

"Oh, I can't do that. It wouldn't be any fun. And we will kill you, but we want to play with you first." The woman inclined her head toward Daxi and three men came out of the shadows. They advanced on her.

"Okay, new plan." Daxi muttered. She grabbed John under his arms and pulled him back towards the middle of the room. The woman and the men laughed. The largest one, the one on her right, darted forward and grabbed a handful of her hair.

"Ack!" Daxi cried as he pulled her backwards. She was forced to let go of John. Daxi hit the floor hard. One of the men grabbed John and tossed him unceremoniously about six feet away. "Stop!" she yelled as he hit the floor. "Leave him alone!"

"Oh, what a pretty face she has." One of the men said pulling her to her feet. "I get her first." He leered at her.

"Screw you." Daxi yelled and kicked him in the crotch. As he fell backwards another one of the men slapped her.

"No, screw you." He said and reached for her shirt.

"Get off me!" she yelled kicking and punching him. Another man shoved her against a box and pinned her arms above her head. Daxi jammed her finger into his eye.

"Aaaaaahh!" he yelled as he covered the hole that had once housed an eye with his hand.

"Stop!" the woman yelled. The men quieted and turned to look at her. They were perfectly trained, Daxi realized. Perfect little lap dogs.

"But Lane-," one of the men started.

"No." Lane said. She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a gun. Daxi's breath caught. Lane put the gun to John's head. "It's time we let them know we mean business."

"NOOOOOO!!" Daxi screamed. She felt her scream rip through her throat and she tasted blood.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Everyone outside heard the scream. Later, people would describe it as anguished and bone-chilling. It raised goose bumps on everyone's arms.

They heard the scream and they heard the gunshot that followed. Both echoed in the still air. Both echoed in everyone's hearts.

"Daxi! John!" Elliot and Olivia screamed.

"John!" Fin and Casey screamed.

The lot outside the warehouse was suddenly filled with screams and activity. People were running. A S.W.A.T. team busted the door down and the warehouse was filled with shouts of, "Police!" and "Drop it!" But they were talking to no one. The only to people in the warehouse were a young girl and the man she was leaning over.

"John!" Casey yelled running towards his body, but Fin caught her and dragged her outside. "No! John, please! Not him, not him! God no!" she was screaming and crying. She held onto Fin and cried. "No, no, no!" she sobbed into his shoulder.

"11-19! 11-19! Officer down!" someone yelled into a radio.

"Daxi!" Elliot said attempting to pull her away from the body.

"No! Get away from me! Get the hell off!" she yelled and dropped to her knees beside John again.

Elliot and Olivia looked down at the body. Their friend, one of their best friends, was dead.

**TBC**

**A/N: What did you think?**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: Time Lost**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**A/N: I am so sorry! It was so hard for me not to go back and change what I did! But, since I can't stand what I've done, I've found a way to rectify the situation! Actually, I was planning on doing this anyway, but it sounded more dramatic when I said it the other way. **

**Man, I would suck as a writer for TV shows. I wouldn't be able to kill anyone off. Anyway, I hope you will all be able to forgive me in this chapter.**

**P.S. If any of you watch House, you'll know where I got this from.**

Images flashed through Daxi's mind. She was at a warehouse, people were screaming. John was dead.

"Nooo!" she was screaming. "No! No! NO!" Daxi was thrashing around trying to rid herself of the memory.

"We need to sedate her!" someone yelled.

"She's lost so much blood! How is she still moving like this?" Someone else said close to Daxi's ear.

"John!" she opened her eyes and grabbed onto the man in front of her. "Don't let him die! Please! Save him!"

"Ma'am, you're the only one that needs saving right now. Please, calm down!"

"Don't let him die." Daxi felt herself fading; slipping away from the pain.

"Ma'am, you need to hold on! Hold on! Everything is going to be okay." But that was all Daxi heard. Blackness surrounded her and everything that hurt, everything that made her hurt was gone.

"We need a crash cart! She's in cardiac arrest!" the woman doctor yelled holding out her hands for the paddles. "Charging 200! Clear!"

"Stop!" another doctor yelled just before the paddles touched Daxi's skin. "Normal sinus rhythm. She needs a transfusion! Get her up to the OR!"

"Move!" the lady doctor yelled. They wheeled the gurney around and headed for the OR. The male doctor hurried to the waiting room.

"Is there anybody here for Olivia Stabler?" he asked looking around at the people in the waiting room. There were only five. A dark haired woman sat with her head on the shoulder of a blue eyed man. She was crying and the man was trying to console her. Another couple, a woman with blonde hair and a man with graying hair, also sat in chairs. Both were white- faced and shaking. And another man sat alone. His face was buried in his hands and he was visibly shaking.

"We are." The dark haired woman and blue eyed man stood up. "So are they." The woman gestured towards the other people in the room. "What's happening?"

"Ma'am, your daughter-,"

"She's not my daughter. We're friends of hers." Olivia corrected.

"Well, Miss Stabler looks like she's been infected with a rare poison called Methynol Calcinite. It affects a gene in the body called P53. This gene allows your cells to replicate and heal at a natural pace. However, Methynol Calcinite freezes this gene and the cells cannot heal. The effects are temporary, but she's lost a lot of blood. She needs a transfusion." The doctor explained quickly. It was a miracle the girl had lasted this long and he didn't want to waste any time.

"What's her blood type?" The man with blue eyes asked.

"She's O- negative."

The dark haired woman collapsed against the man. "We're not a match. Neither of us. We can't save her."

"I'm O-negative." The man with graying hair stood up.

"And you are?" the doctor asked. He couldn't just let some random person give the child blood.

"Detective John Munch." The man said flashing his badge.

"Please, come with me." The two men hurried off down the hall.

"It was them." Olivia said sitting back in her chair. Elliot sat next to her.

"I know."

"Elliot, we can't let this go on anymore. We can't keep hiding like this! We need to face them, just like we have faced every other perp that's gotten in our way. We can't be afraid."

"Olivia, I agree with you, but think about what you're saying. We can't just go busting down their door. Daxi's involved in this too."

"What?" Olivia looked at him confused.

"Remember what their 'warning' was? Olivia, they killed eight people! They wrote our names on each of the bodies and said hey were coming for us. They used Daxi's name too."

Olivia covered her face with her hands. She had completely forgotten about the bodies. She had forgotten that Daxi was in the hospital because she had involved her. If Daxi died it would be all her fault.

"Hey," Elliot said wrapping his arms around her. "Hey. Don't blame yourself for this. It's not anyone's fault. We'll get through this. You, me, and Daxi. We're gonna make it."

"How can you be so sure?" Olivia asked tears glazed her eyes. "How do you know I haven't killed her?"

"Olivia, look at me, you didn't do anything. Blaming yourself is like saying it's Daxi's fault for putting her hand in the bag." Even as Elliot was saying this he could feel his own guilt rise inside of him. He had ordered the chinese; he should have been the one to take the food and pay. Not Daxi.

Now all they could do was wait.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Olivia, Elliot, Casey, John, and Fin waited for five hours. They sat in the waiting room and prayed that Daxi would be alright. Finally the same doctor who had come out before appeared.

"Well?" The dark haired woman asked.

"She's going to make a full recovery." The doctor said. He watched the relief spread across everyone's faces. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name." the doctor said to the dark haired woman.

"Samantha." She replied. The man standing next to her glared at the doctor.

"I'm Cameron." Elliot said shaking the hand the doctor had extended for Olivia. Olivia watched the quick look of pain on the doctor's face as Elliot squeezed much harder than necessary. "Shouldn't you be checking on Daxi?"

The doctor turned and walked away very fast massaging his hand. Munch glanced at Casey.

"Are they, like, together? Because Fin and I had a bet; I say they have already slept together, but he says they haven't."

"Why do you say 'had' a bet?"

"Because he already paid me. When he saw them hugging in the crib he admitted something was up and gave me the money. But, I don't know for sure. Are they together?"

"I don't know. It certainly seems like it though." Casey smiled. She had known about Elliot and Olivia's mutual feeling's for years. It seemed everybody had known about it even before Elliot and Olivia realized it. It was Casey's belief that Elliot had realized his feelings toward Olivia after she had her neck sliced open by Gitano. Olivia probably knew about her feelings before then, but she was better at hiding it. It was just sort of ironic that the case that had made them realize the depth of their relationship was related to this case. And if Casey was right, this case had finally brought them together.

"Hey Fin, are you okay?" Munch called to his partner. He looked up.

"Yeah, I'm cool."

"I didn't ask if you were cool, I asked if you were okay."

"Yeah, John, I'm fine."

"Good because I had a crazy thought that you might be blaming yourself for this."

Fin didn't answer.

"It's not your fault." Munch said getting up and walking over to his partner. "It could have happened to any of us."

"But it didn't. It happened to someone who isn't even old enough to drive yet. It happened to a kid, John. I could have stopped it."

"It's no one's fault. Well, it is Lane and Mark's fault, but I'm guessing that they aren't too broken up over this." Munch said. Fin smiled and shook his head.

"Elliot, you're vibrating." Olivia said sitting up. Casey's eyes widened and Munch and Fin stared at Elliot and Olivia with mouths open.

Olivia clapped her hand over her mouth realizing what it had sounded like she said. "I mean, your phone's going off." Elliot was trying not to laugh. "Shut up! You know what I meant!" she got up and stalked over to the nurse's station.

"Hello." Elliot answered catching himself before he said 'Stabler.'

"Cam, it's Don." Cragen said. "We know why Daxi couldn't stop bleeding."

"Yeah, so do we. But, Don, what cut her?" It felt a little weird calling his captain by name.

"There was a knife sticking up in the bag. It wasn't an eating knife though. Someone put it there on purpose."

"Who was the intended target?"

"Daxi. Her name was burned into the blade."

"These guys sure know what they're doing." Elliot said rubbing his eyes.

"There's something else."

"What?"

"Turns out we were wrong. Not all of the gang is in on this. Only White, Gitano, and three other members."

"Are they related to any perps we've collared?" Elliot asked only half kidding.

"No, but we've got them."

"Got them?"

"Yeah, we arrested the three other members of the gang. Elliot, they've planted a bomb." Elliot's breath caught. "Originally Lane said that blowing up New York was too impractical." The captain continued. "But, Mark talked her into it. We don't know it's exact location, but we have teams looking everywhere."

"Did they tell you how long we have?" Elliot asked.

"Two days." Elliot was about to reply when he heard Daxi yelling.

"Don, I've got to go." Elliot said and hung up. Casey, Fin, Munch, and Olivia were already rushing towards Daxi's room. Elliot followed quickly catching up.

"Don't touch me! No, I don't want that! Go away!" Daxi was attempting to ward off four nurses; one of whom had a very large needle.

"Miss, it will help with the pain." The nurse with the needle pleaded.

"I'm not in any pain!" Daxi yelled.

"Excuse me." Olivia said. "Could I talk to her for a minute?" Olivia gestured towards Daxi. The nurses looked at Olivia and reluctantly left the room. The second they were gone Daxi clambered out of bed.

"Where do you think you're going?" Munch asked looking over the tops of his sunglasses at her. She smiled when she saw Munch. A look of relief crossed her face. But, he blinked and the smile was gone.

"Home." Daxi said and began walking towards the door.

"Whoa, uh-uh. You're not going anywhere except back in that bed." Elliot said blocking her path.

"I don't need to be here. They've bandaged the cut and flushed the poison out of my system."

"Cam, maybe we should take her home." Olivia said. Elliot looked at her like she had grown another eye.

"She was hurt. She just had a blood transfusion; it's amazing that she can even stand."

"But, it'll be safer if we take her home."

Elliot sighed. "The only place she's going to go is back to the stationhouse. I think it'll be safer for all of us if we go there. At least for the time being." He shot Olivia an 'I –have-something-important-to-tell-you' look. She nodded.

"Back to the station, then." She agreed and the six of them left together.

**TBC**

**A/N: I'm sorry, I just couldn't kill John. Anyway, for those of you who don't watch House, Daxi was unconscious after she got cut. She 'dreamed' about the warehouse and John's death. It wasn't really a dream, just her mind playing tricks on her. **

**Some of you may not like what I did, you may have thought that killing John was good twist. I just can't do it. So, I'm sorry if you didn't like this chapter or the last chapter.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: Zero Hour**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**A/N: I may be taking a short break after this chapter. Only a couple of days. This chapter moves pretty quickly. Oh, and just in case anyone doesn't know what zero hour is it's the time when something happens. For example, if a bomb is set to go off in 20 minutes, then zero hour is in twenty minutes. Or if you have a math test in two days, zero hour is in two days. Now that that's settled…Enjoy much!!**

**P.S. Does anybody know what the next episode is and when it's going to air? Some sources say that "Sin" will be airing March 27 and "Responsible" will be airing sometime in April. Others say that "Responsible" is airing March 27 and "Sin" sometime in April. And still others say that "Responsible" will be airing March 20 and "Sin" will be airing March 27. I'm very frustrated.**

**The only thing I know for sure is that the entire month of May will be new episodes. The last episode, "Screwed", will air May 22.**

**Here we go!**

12 hours have passed since they found out about the bomb. That's 12 hours of waiting, of worrying, and of praying. Olivia had been tough when Elliot had told her about their predicament, but inside he could see her fear. He could always see her fear, her happiness, and her anger. He only wished that, instead of identifying them, he could fix them. He wanted to make her fear go away.

"Has anyone seen Daxi?" Olivia asked. They'd left the hospital about 12 hours ago, but she'd only seen Daxi once since then.

"She's up on the roof. I told her to catch some sleep in the crib, but she's wired. Like a Tasmanian Devil on 6 cups of coffee…only less destructive." Munch answered.

"Should she really be alone right now?" Olivia asked looking at Elliot. "I mean, if these creeps are after us shouldn't we all stick together?" Elliot looked down. They really should stick together, but Daxi was a free spirit. She'd do what she wanted when she wanted.

"I'll get her if you want me too." Munch offered.

"No, that's okay. Maybe she just needs sometime alone." Olivia rubbed her arms. Elliot came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

"It'll all turn out okay, Olivia." He said as they gently swayed side to side.

"Can you promise me?" Olivia already knew the answer.

"No. But I'll do my damndest to make it that way."

"I know." Olivia smiled and wrapped her arms around Elliot's arms.

Exaggerated retching noises brought them back to reality. Munch and Fin were both leaning over in their chairs holding their stomachs, making gagging noises.

"Shut up." Olivia said, but she smiled nonetheless. She was with Elliot and nothing else mattered. Not even Munch and Fin's childish antics.

Munch and Fin sat up laughing. "Aww, so cute!" Fin said sarcastically.

"Your insults hurt me." Munch said dramatically putting his hand over his heart. Elliot and Olivia only smiled.

"I think I will go check on Daxi." Olivia said disentangling herself from Elliot.

Elliot watched her go then sat down at his desk and rubbed his hands over his face. They were running out of time. The bomb went off in exactly 35 hours and 30 minutes. The time for games of hide and seek were over; this was war. And in war there were casualties and Elliot wasn't ready to deal with that yet.

………………………………………………………………………………………………..

"Hey, you okay?" Olivia asked softly walking up behind Daxi. She was leaning over the rail and looking out over the city. She quickly wiped her eyes and turned away from Olivia.

"Fine." She responded.

"What's wrong?"

"Try everything." Daxi said tiredly. "You know, I always wanted to come to New York. I'm only fifteen, but I knew by the time I was 7 that I wanted to come to New York. But, now that I'm here…I don't know. It's different, I guess."

"New York's tough. Trust me-," Olivia started, but Daxi cut her off.

"No, no. New York's great. I just thought that the circumstances for my being here would be different." Daxi opened her mouth like she was going to say something else, but she closed it and shook her head. "Forget it. I'm being stupid."

Olivia looked at her. She shouldn't be here; she shouldn't have to deal with this. But, Olivia knew better than to question her further.

"Do you want to come back outside?" she asked.

"No, I think I'm just going to hang out here awhile."

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

**24 hours until Zero Hour**

"I'm hungry." Daxi said stretching and walking down the stairs. She jumped the last few steps and walked over to Elliot's desk. "What do we have to eat?"

"Uh, Olivia and Munch left a few minutes ago to grab bagels and donuts. Any preference?"

"No, whatever's fine. So…you let Olivia leave?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked leaning back in his chair and lacing his hands behind his head.

"Nothing, I just thought-," Daxi began and smile on her lips.

"We're back!" Munch announced. "Did you miss us?" Elliot and Fin shook their heads. Olivia put the bags on her desk and stood back as the other detectives and Daxi dug in.

"You want anything?" Elliot asked wiping his mouth. Olivia put her hand to her stomach.

"Nah, I've actually been a little nauseous lately." Elliot shrugged.

"You're okay, though, right?" he asked looking at her closely. She nodded.

"Captain!" Munch said as Cragen walked into the precinct. Though his four best detectives, Casey, and Daxi had stayed in the precinct all night Cragen had gone home. "Any luck?" Nobody asked Munch what he meant. They all knew what he was talking about.

Cragen shook his head. "No news on the bomb. And in this case, no news is bad news."

The atmosphere in the room changed abruptly. It had been a tensed sort of relaxed before, but now there was no hiding it. They were all scared. It was their duty to protect the people of New York… and they were failing.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

**18 hours until Zero Hour**

Six hours had gone by since the captain's latest update. And, so far, nothing had changed.

Elliot and Olivia were sitting in the crib discussing the situation in hushed voices.

"We're running out of time, Elliot. We're running out of options." Olivia said wringing her hands.

"All nonessential members of each squad in every burrow are out looking. Narcotics has started sending teams also. IAB is even getting involved. They're doing everything they can." Elliot replied.

"What if it's not enough?" Olivia looked at Elliot. "What if our best efforts aren't good enough? What if, this time, we really can't beat them?"

"No more 'what-if's' You'll drive yourself crazy. The most important thing is that we try our best. And if that isn't enough…well, we die knowing we did everything we could."

"I won't give up. Never." Olivia said the familiar fire burning in her eyes.

"I won't either." Elliot said pulling Olivia to her feet. He crushed her against him and buried his face in her hair. "I love you, Olivia. It's important that you know that."

"I do. And I love you too."

……………………………………………………………………………………………

**5 hours until Zero Hour**

13 hours had gone by in a haze. They talked, they sighed, they fell into worried silences. They laughed odd, nervous laughs, and felt like strangers in each other's company. It's a strange thing, preparing for one's possible death. The worst part was the hope. The hope that they might survive. The hope that they'll come out on top one more time. And the crushing, breathless hope that they really were ready. Ready to face this…this monster.

In slow motion they watched they captain come out of his office. In slow motion they watched him come to a stop in front of them. Everything was dull and Cragen looked blurred around the edges.

"We've found it." They heard Cragen say it, but they didn't dare believe it. No one could comprehend the severity of what Cragen had just said. The implications…the terror…the hope. Everything came crashing down on them at once.

They launched themselves out of their chairs as one and asked the same question.

"Where?"

**TBC**

**A/N: So what did ya think? I really love hearing from you guys, so please R&R!!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: Puppets**

**Disclaimer: Not mine. If they were there would be many more EO moments. More like EO eternities; or hours depending on how much you like the show.**

**A/N: Yes, tomorrow is the last day of school for the week! I'm writing this Author's Note at about 4:00 am. I'll write the actual chapter tomorrow. Yay, it's early release day too!**

**Thank you for all the reviews! 173, that's more than I thought possible. But, I am very happy, so keep them coming. This story is my new baby and I really hope I don't screw it up. Then I will be sad  Aaaah, I am going crazy! I am tired, I want to know what the next episode is for sure, and I am not making any sense. I am very sorry for my rant. I seem to do that a lot.**

**Anyway, this next chapter moves at a good pace. There might be some suspenseful, heart-wrenching moments, but I don't know for sure. Like I said, I'm writing this at 4:00 in the morning so I don't know what exactly is going to happen in the story.**

**Yes, well, ranting over. Here is the next installment in my story. Enjoy much!! (And please review! I want to know what you all think!) And I'll be continuing with the countdown. It just makes keeping track of the time a lot easier.**

**4 hours until Zero Hour**

The last hour had been a blaze of terror and frantic action. All search teams had been recalled and told to prepare the city. What that meant exactly, no one really knew. It was just one of those things people say when they are faced with an impossible challenge. Like when doctors can't do anything for their patients they say, "We'll make them as comfortable as possible."

The detectives of the 1-6 were practically falling over each other to get to the bomb site. It was about 45 minutes from the precinct, just outside Manhattan. They managed to make it to the secluded area in one piece, but the real problem was, would they leave this place in one?

"Couldn't have picked a more inconspicuous site, could they?" Munch asked looking around. "It would have been nice if they put the bomb in a building like all other terrorists."

"Not funny." Casey grumbled.

"Wasn't trying to be." Munch turned to Casey. "You shouldn't even be out here. You're pregnant, for Gods' sake!"

"If the city blows up it won't matter where I am, now will it?" Casey turned away from Munch. She could feel the tears burning in her eyes. She had finally been given the chance at a family and it was slowly being taken from her.

"The city won't blow up. Not if we have anything to say about it." Munch said gesturing around at the people gathered in the area. Casey nodded her head.

"I know. I just…I can't lose you. Not after this, after everything. I'm having your child! If you die I couldn't…" Munch hugged her.

"No one's going to die, Casey." Munch tried to comfort her.

"Detectives! You might want to look at this." A CSU member yelled emerging from the warehouse where the bomb was being stored.

Elliot, Olivia, Fin, Munch, and Casey walked forward. Daxi followed, but the CSU guy caught her arm. "I'm sorry ma'am, no civilians allowed."

"What? Let me go, I have a right to see this! These psychopaths are after me too." Daxi protested trying to break free of this guy's grip.

"No, you're coming with me." He began leading her to a car parked on the far side of the warehouse.

"Let me go, you son-of-a bi-," she started to yell, but something hit her on the back of her neck. Her knees hit the ground and stars appeared in front of her eyes. "Oww!" she moaned.

The man in the CSU uniform looked at the woman holding the bat. "You were supposed to knock her out." the man said.

"Well, I hit her hard enough! It's not my fault she's stronger than we anticipated." The woman brandished the bat at Daxi.

"She's not that strong. And while your pathetic attempt to knock her out didn't succeed, she doesn't appear to be very mobile, does she?" This was true. Daxi was still on her knees. She was swaying slightly and her vision still hadn't come back into focus. "There are other ways to keep somebody quiet." The man continued. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun.

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

Elliot and Olivia entered the warehouse behind everyone else. "Elliot, I know that guy." Olivia said quietly.

"You've probably seen him at some other crime scene." Elliot said. He was gazing around in the dim shadows, looking for any traps.

"No, Elliot, that's not where I recognize him from. Somewhere else…" she stopped suddenly and grabbed Elliot's arm. "The hotel! The maintenance guy! That was him!"

"What?" Elliot asked looking at Olivia. "What maintenance g-,"but Olivia cut him off.

"Remember when we were in the Domino Hotel? We were leaving and the elevator got stuck. When the doors opened a man in a maintenance uniform was standing there, leering. Remember?"

Elliot paused. He did remember. "Jesus Christ, you're right! We have to warn-," but he was cut off by a gunshot and a female scream.

Elliot and Olivia looked at each other, panic tearing through them. "Daxi!" they both yelled and ran out of the building.

……………………………………………………………………………………..

Daxi heard the man and woman talking. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but it couldn't be police business. No way were these guys cops or CSU. She tried to stand, but her legs weren't obeying her.

"Plan B." she muttered when she realized she was really incapable of standing. "Scream." She took a deep breath and willed sound to come. However, the only noise that escaped her was a faint hissing that was reminiscent of a teapot when the water's boiled. She was about to try again when she saw the man reach into his pocket. Her vision was still hazy, but she made out the object in his hand with no difficulty at all.

Daxi closed her eyes, fully expecting to feel the bullet rip through her. Instead, she covered her ears as she heard someone else scream. She heard the bullet rip from the gun and the dull 'thwack' as it met flesh. But, it wasn't Daxi's flesh. It was the woman's.

"Useless bitch." The man said kicking the corpse. He reached down and grabbed a handful of Daxi's hair. He yanked her head back and put his face very close to hers. "You see that? If you fight, or scream, or try anything cute, that'll be you. Clear?" Daxi didn't nod. She made no indication that she heard him. Instead, she slumped over, feigning unconsciousness. "That won't work." He yanked her hair, pulling her to her feet. He dragged her to the car, but stopped abruptly. Daxi heard it too. She could hear people calling her name. It sounded like it was far away, but she knew it was the canopy of trees that muffled the voices.

As much as she wanted to, Daxi didn't respond to the calls. Not because she was afraid of this man, but because she wanted to protect the detectives. She didn't want to involve them anymore than they already were. She laughed to herself. They were about as involved as you could be.

"Get in the car." He said urgency making his voice high. "Don't make a sound." He shoved her unceremoniously into the backseat and slammed the door. He ran to the other side and ducked into the drivers' seat. Daxi could have opened the door. She could have bolted back to the warehouse. But, she stayed in the car. She didn't move, she didn't make a sound. She sat in the backseat and crossed her arms over her chest. She wanted to see how this ended.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

"Daxi!" the echoes of her name bounced off the trees as people called for her. People who didn't even know who she was had picked up on the searching. If Benson and Stabler, and the other top detectives in the Special Victims Unit were worried, then something was seriously wrong.

"Daxi!" Olivia called. Her voice was no longer strong. The constant screaming had made her throat raw. She could taste the faint metallic tinge of blood on her tongue. "Daxi, please!" Olivia leaned against a tree and held her head in her hands. She felt a familiar hand land on her back.

"We'll find her, Olivia." Elliot said. Olivia turned and buried her face in Elliot's shirt.

"What if we're too late? What if they…what if she's…" Olivia couldn't finish her sentence.

"Elliot! Olivia! You might want to take a look at this." Munch called. They walked over to where he and a few other people were standing. "Meet Lane White." He said gesturing to the woman on the ground.

Olivia kneeled beside her. "She looks like her father." Olivia said quietly shaking her head. "So maybe," she looked up at Elliot who was standing protectively behind her. "Maybe she's not dead."

"And these," Munch said walking a few steps to the left of the body. "Look like skid marks."

"From a car?" Elliot asked helping Olivia to her feet.

"No, they look human."

"Human…?" Olivia followed Munch's gaze. There were indeed two small skid marks in the dirt. Skid marks that could have been made by two knees. "They're hers. They're Daxi's." Olivia said.

Elliot nodded. "Are there any car tracks?"

Munch shook his head. "There's no doubt in my mind that he had a car, but he hid it well."

"He?" Olivia asked.

"Gitano." Munch looked over the tops of his sunglasses at her.

"Right. Right." Olivia nodded, but her mind was somewhere else.

"Liv, you okay?" Elliot touched her arm. Olivia nodded.

"We have to disable the bomb." Olivia turned and started towards the building.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

**hours and 12 minutes until Zero Hour**

"How's it going?" Olivia asked Elliot when he emerged from the warehouse. He had gone in to check on their progress. They'd been at this bomb for nearly an hour an a half and they still hadn't disabled it.

"Uh, not so good. The bomb was built extremely well. The Bomb Squad says that one wrong move and we could end up speeding the countdown up, if not detonating it on the spot. It could, uh, take awhile." He sat down beside her. There was not much to do but wait.

Olivia put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

"Hey." Casey said walking up to the detectives. "How are they doing?"

"Not good." Elliot said.

Casey nodded and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. "I'm going to see if anything has changed." She turned and walked away leaving Elliot and Olivia alone again.

"What's bothering you?" Elliot asked wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"I hardly know her and I feel like I've lost my daughter. God," she shook her head. "How ridiculous does that sound? I'm pathetic."

"No, you're not." Elliot said seriously. "You identify with her. Both of you had abusive mothers, of course you're going to develop a bond with her."

"That's what bothers me. I don't think her mother is abusive. Yes, her mother is a drunk, but I don't think she has ever raised her hand against Daxi."

"How do you figure?"

"I don't know. Daxi doesn't act like a victim. She's tough, Elliot. I don't think she'd hide abuse. But, I guess I can't be sure. I guess what's really getting to me is that her mother hasn't called. Not once. This case has been all over the news and her mother hasn't even been asking if anyone's seen her daughter."

"Maybe she hasn't put two and two together." Elliot suggested, but he knew that there was no way in hell a good mother would let her daughter's absence go unnoticed."

"She's not an abusive mother, Elliot. She's a neglectful one."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

**26 minutes until Zero Hour**

Daxi watched the miles go by as she sat in the car. They had been driving for approximately 3 and a half hours. God knows what state they were in now. She guessed that they had about 25 minutes until the bomb exploded. Daxi hoped that the Bomb Squad could disable it in time.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

**5 minutes until Zero Hour**

"This is it people!" Cragen said addressing the entire congregation of people. "Five minutes!"

Olivia looked around. Many people were crying. Some were falling to their knees cursing the heavens. And, still, some were dry-eyed, helping others. Comforting them. Elliot came up behind her and took her hand.

"Don't." she said. "Anything you say is going to sound like goodbye." She turned and looked into Elliot's eyes. "Please."

"I love you, Olivia." Olivia hung her head. She couldn't do this. Like Casey, she had been given a chance a love. She had been given a chance at life. And everything was crashing down on her head.

"I love you so much, Elliot." She cried into his shirt. "I love you so much."

………………………………………………………………………………………….

**Zero Hour**

Daxi hung her head as her watch went off. They were out of time. She braced herself, then felt stupid as she realized that there was no way the person who set the bomb would hang around. They were at a safe distance, but the people she had come to know as friends weren't. They were in the heart of it, with no escape.

**TBC**

**A/N: So what do you think? Personally, I think this was a pretty good chapter. But it's your opinion that counts, so please review!!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16: Roundabout**

**Disclaimer: Not mine. Except for Mark Gitano and Daxi. And when I mention Lays chips I don't own those either. If I did I would probably weigh 300 pounds.**

**A/N: No school today!!! Yay! That means that I get a chance to update. Okay so we left off with the bomb reaching detonation. Daxi is a hostage to Mark Gitano and we don't know if New York even exists anymore. Bwa ha ha, my evil plan is working!! LOL, seriously review. I love comments you guys have.**

**ENJOY!!!**

Olivia opened her eyes. She looked around. People were looking left and right, up and down. Waiting, just waiting for the explosion that never came. The Bomb Squad emerged from the building. They all looked tired, but each wore an identical expression of triumph.

"We got it." The captain of the Bomb Squad said holding up a blue wire.

"I guess it really is between the red one and the blue one." Elliot said still holding onto Olivia. He wasn't ready to let her go just yet. She showed no signs of letting go either.

"Is there something going on between Benson and Stabler that I should know about?" Cragen asked quietly to Munch and Fin.

"Should?" Munch said.

"Probably not." Fin finished.

"You're right. I don't want to know." Cragen walked off to congratulate everyone on an outstanding job. As he launched into a speech about how they had all faced one of the toughest challenges life has to offer and they survived, Elliot and Olivia walked a little ways away.

"Some day." Olivia said still holding onto Elliot.

"It's not over yet." Elliot said. Olivia could only nod.

They hadn't found Daxi in the woods. No one had really expected to. That meant that Gitano had her and God only knows what he was doing to her. And even God probably didn't want to.

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

Daxi bolted upright as the car jerked to a stop. She had drifted off thinking about what was happening back in New York. There was a good possibility that all her friends were lying in pieces in the middle of a giant crater. She shook her head; partly to get rid of the drowsiness and partly to rid her mind of the image of Elliot and Olivia broken.

"Get out." Gitano commanded. Daxi didn't move. "I said get out!" He flung her door open and grabbed her hair again. He pulled so hard her head snapped back.

"Ergh! Let me go!" Daxi yelled attempting to disentangle her hair from his fingers.

"Get out of the goddamned car!" Gitano yanked with all his might and Daxi came tumbling out of the car. She landed on her hands and knees. "Son of a bitch." She muttered rubbing her head when he released her.

"Get inside." He said gesturing towards the house. Daxi glared at him for a long moment, then slowly stood up. Never losing eye contact she made her way inside the house. "Sit." He pointed to a big sofa in the middle of the room. Daxi had expected a dreary, dilapidated interior, but his house was amazing! It was huge; three stories easy and select panels in the ceiling were sparkling glass. The room was lit in a golden glow from the setting sun.

As much as she didn't want to admit it, this house was gorgeous. She sat on the couch Gitano had indicated and continued to look around. "Stay." He commanded and left the room.

"Yeah right." Daxi said getting up. She had no intention of leaving, she just wanted to explore. Not to far from the couch was an archway. Not the same archway that Gitano had left through, but a different, grander one. She walked through it and entered what looked like a living/dining room. There was a large table in the room; like the kind in all those gothic horror movies. Little statues decorated the wood in an ominous way and the chairs had to be 4 feet tall.

"How one would sit in those, I've no idea." Daxi muttered venturing deeper into the room. The far wall was made entirely of glass. She walked over to it and laid a hand on its surface. The glass was cool and smooth. She looked out at the back yard. There were too many plants to even count. It looked to be some sort of brightly colored forest. She squinted beyond the flowers and gasped. The ocean!

The clear turquoise water glittered with a thousand diamonds. It was the most beautiful beach she had ever seen. The sand was white and it looked soft. She closed her eyes and strained her ears for the sound of the surf. She could barely hear it, but it was the same powerful crashing that she remembered from when she was little.

Daxi shook her head and turned away from the glass wall. She waited for her eyes to adjust to the semi-darkness of the room again, then continued to explore. There were two more couches about 15 feet from the table and a lot of reclining chairs. A light in the corner of the room caught her eye. She walked towards it and realized it was a door. She pushed it open and entered the kitchen. It was huge! It looked like one of those kitchens you would find in a really expensive hotel. To her right was a large walk-in pantry. She pulled open the door and stepped inside. There were rows upon rows of food. She found a bag of chips.

"I haven't had these in forever." Daxi said as she took down a bag of original Lays.

"What do you think you are doing?" Mark said coming up behind her. He grabbed the chips out of her hand and threw them back in the pantry slamming the door.

"Hey! If I'm going to be here awhile I need to eat. If you want a live hostage that is." Daxi said opening the pantry door and grabbing the chips.

"Who said I wanted a live hostage." Mark grumbled, but he walked away. "Dead ones are much easier to deal with. Not so chatty."

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

The detectives and Casey arrived back at the precinct an hour later. The search teams that had been called to locate the bomb were now trying to locate Daxi. They had an idea that she might be somewhere in Massachusetts. When they had searched Lane White they found a map with Massachusetts circled in blue highlighter.

But, Massachusetts was a big place. Mark and Daxi could be anywhere, and they weren't even a hundred percent sure that she was in Massachusetts! All they were going off of was a dead woman's map. And there is nothing less trustworthy then a dead woman's directions because that may have been what had gotten her killed in the first place.

Olivia rubbed her temples and leaned back in her chair. "I am so tired." She said groaning.

Elliot nodded his eyes red-rimmed and squinted. "I'm with you there." He agreed rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands.

Munch was sitting in his chair, elbows on his desk, and staring blankly into space. Fin was asleep; his head resting on his arms that were folded on his desk. And Casey was sitting in the chair beside Munch's desk, aimlessly tracing circles on her chair with her finger. Cragen stepped out of his office. He looked pointedly at his four top detectives and the ADA and turned back around into his office. Elliot and Olivia stood up and stretched. Casey did the same. Munch stood as well, but much slower.

"Fin." Munch croaked. His voice was rough due to lack of sleep and lack of use. "Fin!" he tried again. He picked a pen up off his desk and tossed it at Fin's head. It hit on the nose. Fin sat up looking around blearily.

"Wha's happen…?" he slurred. Not because he was drunk, but also from lack of real sleep.

"Fin, the captain wants to see us." Munch wasn't looking at his partner. Rather, he was looking somewhere above Fin's shoulder. "Captain wants to…" his sentence trailed as he followed Elliot and Olivia into Cragen's office. Fin stood and caught up with Munch.

"What's going on, cap?" Elliot asked. His voice was low with exhaustion and Olivia leaned against him for support.

"We haven't found them, but we did find someone who works in a toll booth who claims he saw them. The toll booth is just inside the Massachusetts' state line. The detectives nodded in what would have been an enthusiastic manner, but their energy level allowed them to do no more than simply move their heads up and down.

"That's really good. Really…" Olivia said her eyes barely open.

"When was the last time any of you slept?" Cragen asked looking between his detectives. They all were dead on their feet.

"Uh, Liv and I haven't really slept for about, um…4 days. I think." He added. He really wasn't sure when they had last slept. It felt like a hell of a lot longer than 4 days though.

"Fin and I haven't slept in 3, I think." Munch said slapping Fin on the back. Fin stumbled forward and caught himself using Cragen's desk.

"Why didn't you guys catch some sleep when Daxi was here?" Cragen asked.

"When?" Elliot asked.

"Before we found the bomb. You guys stayed here all night, remember?"

"We couldn't sleep. And neither did Daxi. She went up to the crib, but I went up a little later to check on her and she wasn't asleep." Olivia answered still leaning against Elliot.

"All of you, up to the crib now. I want you all to get some sleep. That's an order."

"But Daxi…" Olivia started.

"You'll be the first to know if we find anything." The four detectives and Casey, who had remained silent throughout the entire conversation, nodded and trudged out of the office. They made their way upstairs in slow procession. Munch collapsed on the bed closest to the door.

"Hey, no fair man. You should let…should…" Fin said as he collapsed on another bed. He fell asleep immediately, as did Munch. Casey walked to a bed on the other side of Munch and fell asleep once her head hit the pillow.

Elliot laid down on the bed right next to Fin's. Olivia collapsed next to him, curling up against his stomach. He wrapped his arm around her and they both fell into a dreamless, yet restless sleep.

………………………………………………………………………………………

"Get up." Mark Gitano said as he shoved Daxi. Daxi fell off the couch that she was sleeping on with a loud 'Smack!'

"Gack!" she cried as she fell. She hit the ground and rolled over onto her back. "What was that for?" she asked standing up and turning to face Mark.

"Dunno. Just thought that it would be funny." Mark shrugged and sat on the couch that she had just so recently vacated.

Daxi cocked her head. "How old are you?"

Mark gave her a lop-sided grin. "Seventeen."

"If you had told me that yesterday I would have laughed. But, right now, I totally believe you." Daxi shook her head and put her hands on her hips. "Why are you doing this?"

"It's for my father."

"Right, right. You're Gitano's kid." Daxi said sitting down. "What does that have to do with me?"

"Technically, you're not involved. At least, you weren't involved until those two incompetent, lovesick puppy cops involved you."

"And they involved me how?"

"They were worried about you. They began questioning you. They began to care for you."

"So because they worry about me, I'm part of this? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd rather be in the middle of this rather than on the sidelines."

"Why would you rather be in the middle, the line of fire, then on the sidelines at a safe distance?" Mark asked looking at her curiously.

"Because I'm in a position to end this." Daxi's eyes darkened. "I can protect my friends when I'm in the middle. If I was on sidelines I would only be able to watch as you or someone else tried to murder them."

"And who said they were your friends?" Mark asked.

"I do." Daxi answered looking at Mark.

"But, they aren't, are they? They don't think of you as a friend. They think of you as a victim who needs their help." His voice was smooth, persuasive.

"Nuh-uh. Your games won't work on me." Daxi stood up. She started to walk away when she turned around again.

"Why haven't you killed me? Why haven't you just ended this and killed me?"

"Because, there is something about you I like." Daxi stiffened. "You are a mystery. No one knows where you came from, no one knows who you really are, and you appear to know much more then you should." Mark stood as well. He was only a few inches taller than Daxi.

"I know as much as I need to know." Daxi said. "And if you honestly want to know who I am, find out yourself. Surely a smart guy like you can find anything." Daxi said sarcastically.

"Smart-ass." Mark raised his hand and brought it down towards her face. Daxi ducked and grabbed his arm, twisting it behind him. He lost his balance and fell onto the floor. Daxi stood over him.

"Don't you dare raise your hand to me." She said her voice shaking with adrenaline. Mark sat up wiping his forehead. He had landed on his face and there was a small cut above his right eyebrow.

He smirked. "You see? No normal 15 year old could do that."

"I'm a 15 year old girl living in New York City. I should be able to do that. And how dare you question me about my abilities." Daxi turned and stalked off toward the kitchen.

"I know more about you then you think!" he called after her. He paused for a second then added, "Kaye."

Daxi stopped. "What did you just say?"

Mark stood and shook his head. "You know exactly what I said. If I were you, I'd be more careful how you address me."

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Elliot, Olivia, Munch, Casey, and Fin were still asleep seven hours later. That was seven more hours that Daxi was still out there with a man who knew more about her then she thought possible. That's seven hours of fitful sleep that granted no more then a few hours worth of energy. That was seven hours that had gone unnoticed by the detectives and the ADA.

Olivia mumbled something in her sleep that sounded a lot like, "Elliot."

Elliot was silent, but every once in awhile a frown would cross his face and his mouth would twitch.

Munch tossed and turned. He kept swatting at something above him and muttering, "Government." And, "Secret operations."

Fin was still, but he too was mumbling. He kept saying things like, "My son…" and "Never again."

Casey was flinching and muttering something about poker and judges.

Cragen looked at the four detectives and the lawyer and sighed. They worked so hard to bring justice into people's eyes and they rarely ever got any justice back.

Elliot and Olivia, for example. Cragen had watched them become more than friends. He had watched them struggle with the realization that they were more than just partners. It had scared them and they had tried to ignore it. But, Cragen always knew how it would end up. It just wasn't fair that the two of them had to risk their jobs in order to act on the only thing they had ever known was real.

It wasn't fair that they had to watch each other put themselves in danger everyday. These two people were probably some of the most deserving on this Earth and the one thing they had ever asked for, Cragen couldn't grant. He wanted so much for them to be happy; to be in love. But they would have to make a choice. The job or each other.

Cragen could always split them up. Olivia could go with Munch and Elliot with Fin, but how would that affect them? Cragen shook his head. He had to play his cards right. Finish this case, then have a talk with the detectives.

His eyes moved to Munch, Fin, and Casey. They all worked so hard. They kept going; they kept trying to save someone else. They made it through each day by telling themselves, "One more. Just one more and we might actually win this war."

But it would never happen. Their hard work would never be truly acknowledged nor appreciated. But, they kept going because every case they solved, every person they saved brought them a little closer. A little closer to the answers they all craved. Why would someone do what we do? How could anybody see what they see and survive? But, every time they got a little closer to the salvation they so desperately wanted it was snatched away by another ungrateful perp. Another case to weigh them down. Another case to break their hearts. Another case to diminish their souls.

Yet, they had found love and acceptance. Elliot and Olivia had found each other in the dark, as had Casey and Munch. Fin had accepted his son and his son, in turn, had forgiven his father. These strong, unselfish people had found each other and that helped them through each case. It helped them remember, even if for a moment, that there is good in the world. That people could still be happy outside of the murder and brutality they tried to ignore.

It helped them to be human.

**TBC**

**A/N: Okay, so sort of a cliffhanger. I let slip a little who Daxi is, but trust me, there is definitely more to come. I really need your feedback on this chapter. I'm making it up as I go along, so some of it might be random. I'm doing my best to minimize confusion, but I need some outside help. Please review!!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17: Found**

**Disclaimer: Not mine. If they were dani beck would never have existed.**

**A/N: I hope you guys liked that last chapter. I did give away a bit more about Daxi, but there is a whole story behind her. I'm sure how many more chapters there are going to be. I guess it all depends on how much I feel like writing. It also depends on how much you guys review!!**

**Okay, so from what I've heard "Sin" airs on March 27 and "Responsible" airs April 3. I really hope that is the way it's going because I've read some side from both episodes and they look hilarious!! Anyway…**

**ENJOY!!!**

Mark sat staring out the window. He ran his fingers through his hair with the confidence of a guy who's used to charming girls. But his expression belied his manner. He was terrified; he had gotten himself in deeper then he had planned to. Lane had been the one to devise the plans. She had been the smart one, the careful one. And here he was blundering through his own half-assed plan.

He was supposed to take the girl and use her as bait for Benson and Stabler. That had worked beautifully. What he hadn't counted on was who the girl was. She claimed her name was Olivia Stabler and that her nickname was Daxi, but that's not who she was…not really.

Mark had believed she was just a random girl that had stumbled upon Benson and Stabler and had gained their affections. He had to hand it to her; she had gained their trust and friendship quite easily. He had assumed she was just a girl. Just a plain, run of the mill girl with a drunk for a mother. But, that hadn't been the case. She was not who she said she was and her lies had dragged Mark into hole he couldn't get out of.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Casey woke up first. She laid her hand on her stomach and cried a little. In her mind she felt that if she couldn't help save Daxi, then she couldn't be a mother. If she couldn't save another child, she wouldn't be able to care for her own. Yes, she had John to help her, but he could die every time he went to work. He'd been shot before, but it hadn't been fatal. What if…what if next time it hit his heart instead of his ass?

Olivia heard Casey crying. She wanted to comfort her friend, but she knew Casey didn't want anyone to see her in her moment of weakness. Olivia closed her eyes and tried to fall back to sleep and give Casey her privacy, but she was hit with an overwhelming wave of nausea. She sat up and held her hand to her mouth. 'I have to fight this.' She thought. 'Don't get sick. Not now. I don't have time to be sick.' But her stomach wasn't listening to her.

Elliot sat up when he heard the bathroom door slam. "Liv…?" he asked looking beside him. She wasn't there.

"Elliot." Casey said wiping her eyes. "She just ran into the bathroom. I think she's sick." Elliot got up and knocked on the bathroom door.

"Olivia?" he called quietly. "Liv, are you okay?" When she didn't answer he opened the bathroom door. Olivia was washing her mouth in the sink. "Olivia." Elliot gently put his hand on her back. She looked down in order to avoid looking at him in the mirror. She could feel his eyes bore into her anyway.

"It's morning sickness, El." Olivia replied still not meeting his gaze.

"What?" Elliot was confused.

"I'm pregnant." Olivia finally looked up. She braced herself for the anger, the disappointment that was sure to be in Elliot's eyes. Nothing could have prepared her for the brilliant smile that lit up his whole face.

"You're pregnant?" he asked. "Really? You're sure?" he sounded so…happy.

"Well, I mean, I haven't taken the test or anything yet. But…" her voice trailed. She was honestly confused. She had expected Elliot to be angry or upset. He had four beautiful kids already.

Elliot hugged her fiercely. "So…you're not mad?" she asked.

"Mad?" he repeated looking at her. "Why would I be mad? Olivia, I couldn't be happier!"

"But, we're not married. And I know how having a child out of wedlock is a sin." Olivia was referring to how faithful Elliot was to his religion.

"And so is divorce. You don't see me staying with Kathy do you?" Olivia shook her head. She wanted this baby. She wanted it more than anything and she had been so afraid that he would reject her.

Elliot hugged her again. "We gotta get diapers and bottles. Can't have a baby without bottles. We also need-," But Olivia cut him off.

"Slow down." Olivia laughed laying her hand on his chest. "There's plenty of time for that. Right now we have to focus on Daxi."

Casey knocked. "Is everything alright?" she asked looking between the two. Both were wearing identical smiles of pure joy. "I guess so." She smiled faintly as she answered her own question.

Olivia stepped away from Elliot and hugged Casey. "I'm pregnant." She whispered. Casey screamed.

"No way!" she yelled hugging her friend back. Casey and Olivia both began jumping around and screaming as they had done when they discovered Casey was pregnant. They exited the bathroom, both still screaming. Elliot followed looking as ecstatic as the two women, but he expressed his happiness in a quieter manner.

"What's happenin'?" Fin asked running up to the two screaming women. Munch followed with a concerned look on his face.

"I'm pregnant!" Olivia screamed. She was not acting like Olivia the Cop. She was acting like Olivia the Woman; the soon to be a mom.

"Man, I don't think I can handle two pregnant women at one time. Do you realize how many raging hormones that's gonna be?" Fin turned to Munch. "I'm the only one here who hasn't gotten a co-worker pregnant." Munch shoved Fin's arm.

"You already have a kid." Munch said.

"Oh no, don't tell me…" Cragen entered the room and looked at the three smiling men and two screaming women. "Olivia's pregnant?" he phrased it as a question, but he knew the answer.

"Look!" Olivia cried running up to Cragen and hugging him. "It's grandpa!"

"What? Oh no, I'm not that old!" Cragen protested. He was kidding, though, and hugged her back.

"Not fair! If he's gonna be grandpa to your baby, he has to be grandpa to mine too." Casey laughed. "Will you?" she asked.

Cragen looked at the two women and the two fathers to be and smiled. "Of course." But Cragen remembered the real reason he had come upstairs. "We found her." He said and the whole room got quiet.

"You found Daxi?" Olivia asked. Cragen nodded. The smiles disappeared from everyone's faces. "Is she alive?"

"We don't know. But, if she is, she won't be for much longer. We have to get to her before Mark becomes too erratic." The others nodded and followed Cragen downstairs and into their cars.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Daxi watched Mark at the window. He was really deep in thought because he didn't even look up when she walked up behind him.

"Do you really know who I am?" She asked. Mark started and turned around.

"Not much. I only know your name."

"How'd you find out?" she asked leaning against the table.

"A friend. It's not important."

"Of course it's important. This is my life we're talking about. Does anyone else know?"

"Well, Lane did. But I don't think she's going to be very chatty." Daxi smiled at his weak attempt at humor.

"You can't get out of this. You know that."

Mark nodded.

"I can't help you. Not that I would, but I can't even give you a second option."

"Oh, and what's my first option?" Mark asked.

"You die." Daxi said it simply and shrugged. "I can't even get you life in prison. They are going to find you and they are going to kill you."

"They can't do that. They'd be arrested."

"Mark, who do you think they are going to defend? You or the cop that killed you? They are going to turn their heads and ignore what they do to you."

"They're supposed to defend me. It's their job." But Mark knew she was right.

"But they won't. You'll die and life will go on as if you've never existed. And that's the rub, isn't it?" Daxi asked cocking her head. "No one will remember who you were. You aren't doing this to get back at Elliot and Olivia. You knew what your father did was wrong."

Mark opened his mouth, but she held up her hand.

"You're doing this because you want to be noticed. You want attention and are doing the only thing you know how to do. And it's working. But, you know that once this is over you will fade into the background. No one will remember who you are, what you did. The only thing they will remember is that you were the guy who almost blew up New York. And even then, some other criminal is going to take the credit for that because you'll be dead and you wouldn't be able to stop him. That's why you're pissed, because you will be forgotten."

"No. Benson and Stabler won't forget me." Mark protested. Her words were cutting deep and it scared him that she knew so much about him. It was terrifying that she could read him so well.

"Yes, they will. They're gonna get married and they are going to start a family of their own. They'll forget you and so will I."

"You can't forget me if you're dead!" Mark screamed and grabbed her by her neck. "Bitch, you think you know so much! I know from experience that dead women know nothing." He lifted her off her feet like she was paper and threw her. She slammed into the table and slid across its surface before hitting the floor.

Daxi didn't move. Mark walked over to her and picked her up. "Don't die on me now, little girl. The show's only just begun." He whispered and carried her over to the couch. He laid her down and went upstairs. He was putting the final touches on the last plan he would ever carry out when the police cars started to arrive.

**TBC**

**A/N: I know, this is a short chapter, but I didn't have much time to write today. I may not update for a couple days. My mom's birthday is tomorrow, so I may update Wednesday. If you want me to update sooner I'll need some encouragement. Which means please review!!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18: Baby Go Boom**

**Disclaimer: No matter how many times I ask; no matter how many times I beg; no matter how much I cry; they still are not mine. Dick Wolf owns…lucky son of a bitch.**

**This Chapter is for ChrisMeloniismysexymanbeast52. Happy Birthday, girl!! I know it's early, but I might not update tomorrow.**

**A/N: Okay, I'm back!! Did ya miss me? Probably not. Anyway my mom's birthday was great! We went to this place for dinner and you get to dance on the tables! It's not like a club, it's very suave. It was freakin' hilarious. And hella fun! Plus, they had this amazing chocolate cake there. I love chocolate and when I say it's good, that means it's really good!!**

**Okay, so enough about me. Thank you guys who reviewed!! And even thank you guys who didn't review because you still read my story. That counts for something, right? And I hope you guys who didn't review are out there, because I will feel like a total idiot if you're not. But, hey, what's new? 197 reviews!! So close to 200! Come on guys! Send in those reviews!! Oooh! I saw a sign today. In class, we're studying Lake Okeechobee (big fun…) and on the board my teacher wrote, 'K.O.E. Kissimmee. Well, someone had erased the 'K' and the 'immee', so all it said were O.E. Kiss! It's a sign, it has to be!! BTW: has anyone seen the preview for next week's eppy? It looks really good. If you want to see it, go to: youtube and search Law and Order SVU- Sin.**

**I know you're all dying to know who Daxi is, but we won't get into that this chapter. Much apologies!! This chapter goes fast, I guess. Alright, I know I said enough about me, but guess what? Well, no one's going to answer for obvious reasons, so I'll answer myself. Well, my class got our course cards today and guess what I chose as an elective? I'm joining JROTC! I never thought I would, but I want to be a cop when I grow up and figured JROTC would be the best place to learn some discipline. I have a major problem with authority, so might as well learn to follow an order without complaint while I'm still young!!**

**Enough about me, for real this time. So without further ado…**

**Oh yeah, I forgot…ENJOY LOTS!!**

"This is it?" Elliot asked looking over the steering wheel at the house standing before him. He had expected a run down building with peeling paint, creaking shutters, the works. Instead he had driven up to a gorgeous, three story house complete with glittering windows and an amazing view of the ocean.

Olivia read out the address into her radio and got a brief 10-4. Meaning that they were in the right place. Fifteen more police cars pulled up behind Elliot and Olivia; each car carrying two officers. That totaled 30 cops, plus half the bomb squad, six negotiators, four dogs, about 15 members of the S.W.A.T Rescue and Removal Team, and 13 S.W.A.T snipers.

All in all it was 88 against one. The obvious winners sat in their cars, waiting for orders. The only two things they were worried about were Daxi and the fact that they may not be the winners. This psycho could have more bombs planted all around the house, which was why the bomb squad was here. Gitano could take them all out with the push of a button.

Elliot remembered when the twins were little and used to watch Dexter's Laboratory on Cartoon Network. When DeeDee would ask, "Ooooh! What does this button do?" and then push the button Lizzie would scream and cover her ears while Dickie would run up to the TV and yell, "Get her, Dexter!"

He jumped when Olivia touched his arm. "Do you hear that?" she asked. She wasn't looking at him; rather, she was looking up at the house. Her eyes were narrowed and her hand tightened on his arm. "I…I think someone's singing."

Elliot strained his ears. Indeed, there was a sort of obnoxious tune filling the air. Suddenly, a window on the top floor burst open and the obnoxious song was blasting across the yard. Elliot looked up and saw Mark Gitano sticking his head out of the window and swaying slightly. He was singing, but his words were slurred.

"Is he drunk?" Olivia asked in an incredulous voice getting out of the car.

"I think so." Elliot also got out. "Unfortunately, that just makes him more unpredictable and worse for us."

Olivia sighed. "I don't know. He doesn't even seem coherent." As if on cue Mark staggered to the left and revealed the gun he'd been holding. His voice rising in pitch, he was swinging the gun around in tune to the song.

Mark opened his eyes and his words became very clear. "Let the bodies hit the floor." He sang.

Elliot recognized the song. Kathleen used to play it whenever she got mad. She would run into her room and turn up the volume as loud as she could. This had been her favorite band. What had they been called? Systematic Downfall? The System is Down? System Drown-," Elliot was jerked out of his thoughts when Olivia screamed.

"Elliot!" he heard the horror in her voice and Elliot was suddenly being knocked to the ground. He heard the sound of a bullet ripping from a gun and then several more shots from the officers all around him. Elliot hit the concrete with a 'thud!' He rolled over and saw Olivia lying next to him. She must have knocked him to the ground when Gitano fired because he had zoned. 'Brilliant.' Elliot thought to himself. 'I'm in the middle of a highly dangerous situation and I'm daydreaming.'

He rolled over and pushed himself to his knees when another shot rang out. He felt the bullet whiz past his left shoulder then bury itself in a tree a few yards away. Elliot looked up at the window, but Gitano was no longer there. He heard the officers shouting, saying they lost visual. They were warning the people that Gitano was armed and definitely dangerous.

Elliot reached down to help Olivia up, but when he didn't feel her hand in his he looked down. Olivia was still lying in exactly the same place she had landed when she knocked him down.

"Olivia?" he said. He gently grabbed her shoulder and rolled her onto her back. "Olivia?" she didn't open her eyes. She, in fact, did nothing at all. "Olivia!" he shouted. He placed his other hand on her other shoulder and touched something wet. Something sticky. He looked at his hand and choked. Blood.

"Elliot!" Munch called. He, Fin, and Casey had just arrived. Elliot ignored them.

"Olivia! You need to wake up! Please, Olivia!" Elliot begged. Blood was pouring from the wound in her arm. "10-13! 10-13! Officer down!" Elliot yelled into his radio.

Four more shots rang out. Elliot ducked covering Olivia's body with his own. He turned around to look at the window, but he got a face full of cloth instead. He was grabbed roughly by his shoulders and dragged away from Olivia and to his feet.

Elliot was standing face to face with Mark Gitano. "Stand against your car." He commanded Elliot. When Elliot didn't move he shoved him hard and shouted, "Get against your goddamned car or I'll shoot her right here!" He pointed the gun at Olivia's face.

Elliot reluctantly stood against his car. He reached for his weapon, but only too late did he realize that it had fallen out when he fell to the floor. 'Why isn't anybody shooting?' he screamed to himself. He expected Mark to put the gun down and demand he be allowed to live. He expected anything except what Mark actually did.

Mark walked over to Olivia and picked her up. He threw her roughly over his shoulder and began walking back into the house. Elliot ran after him, but Mark turned around.

"Do you want me to put a bullet in her head? Do you want her to die? Get back against the car!!" Mark screamed shoving the gun into Olivia's hair. Elliot stopped and watched as Mark took Olivia inside the house.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Daxi was still lying on the couch. She hadn't moved for the past four hours. She just lay there, her chest rising and falling with each rhythmic breath she took. Her eyes moved under their eyelids, but they never opened. To anyone, including Mark, it seemed Daxi was out of it.

She felt something fall onto the couch beside her. She also smelled the far too familiar stench of blood and gun powder. The thing beside her let out a groan. 'Olivia.' Daxi thought as realization dawned on her.

Heavy footsteps moved around the couch and back upstairs. She heard a door slam. Daxi sat up quickly and turned to look at Olivia. Her eyes were barely open and her face was white. Blood was drenching the couch around her left arm.

"Olivia?" Daxi whispered her eyes flicking to the stairwell. "Olivia, wake up." Olivia opened her eyes all the way and looked around. Pain clouded her features as she touched her arm. "No, don't touch it."

"Daxi? What…?" Olivia sat up momentarily forgetting her pain.

"Ssshhh!" Daxi whispered. Olivia nodded and winced as what little color that was left in her face vanished. "Can you walk?"

Olivia licked her lips and nodded. Sure, she could walk. Right? Olivia stood with Daxi's help and steadied herself using Daxi's arm. Daxi glanced at the stairs again and turned to Olivia. She inclined her head toward the door and Olivia nodded her consent.

They made their way across the room and Daxi reached for the door handle when Olivia stumbled. Daxi pulled her hand back to grab Olivia and a bullet blasted through the door where her hand had been a second ago. The two women fell back crying out when they hit the floor.

Daxi jumped up and stood in front of Olivia. "Stay back." She commanded, but her voice sounded weak to her own ears. She cleared her throat. "I said, stay back." Her voice was steadier, but still, it held no real authority. She had almost just had her hand blown off, she was trying to protect a woman from getting killed, and she was trying to keep a psychopath at bay.

No, today was not a good day.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

"Why didn't you shoot him!" Elliot screamed walking over to where the other officers were gathered. None looked too happy about having to deal with Elliot. "Why the hell didn't you shoot him?"

"We have strict orders to take him alive." One man replied, bravely stepping toward Elliot.

"Orders? From who?" Elliot took a step forward. The man who had spoken winced and took a step back. He looked down, ashamed that Elliot had the power to make him feel small and scared.

"Captain Cragen, sir." He said quietly. "He says that under no circumstance is Mark to be killed. He also said that if you tried anything we're supposed to detain you. Whatever it takes." He added taking another step back.

"Yeah? You're gonna stop me?" Elliot growled stepping towards the other man again. The man stumbled backwards and caught himself by grabbing the side view mirror on his car.

"Y-Yes. We-We'll use f-force if nec-necessary." He stuttered. Mentally, he kicked himself.

"Force, huh? You and what army? Because it's gonna take the army to stop me. That murdering freak has Olivia. He's also got Daxi."

"Elliot." Munch said. Elliot turned. "Elliot, you're only making the situation worse. We've got to focus on how to get them out of there." Elliot looked like he was going to hit Munch. Instead, he turned back to the other officer and hit him across his jaw. The man crumpled to his feet, but before anyone could do anything another shot rang out accompanied by two female screams.

Elliot turned towards the door and saw only splintered wood where a door handle had been. He made his decision. He glanced back at Munch, then turned and ran towards the house. He scooped up his gun and continued running. The shouts of "Stop" and "Elliot, think before you do this!" fell behind him. No one was running after him. No one wanted to stop him. They all wanted Gitano dead.

Elliot reached the door when two more shots sliced through the air. He ducked, but shoved the door open. He ran inside and stopped, letting his eyes get accustomed to the semi dark. A thud upstairs got his attention. He listened closer, but didn't hear anything. Somewhere to his right he heard a slight cough, almost like someone was trying to muffle it. Squinting he saw a figure in a shadowy corner of the room.

"Daxi?" he asked rushing over to her side. In his hurry, he knocked into a side table and the lamp that had been balanced precariously on it's surface toppled over. It came down with a crash on Daxi's right leg. It shattered and the jagged edges cut deeply into her skin.

"Mmph!" Daxi groaned through clenched teeth. She did her best not to scream. Her hands were tied together with a rope and the rope was tied around a hook in the wall above her head. If her hands hadn't been tied she may have been able to catch the stupid lamp.

"Daxi! I am so sorry!" Elliot exclaimed quietly looking at her leg. There were four or five cuts on her leg and they were all quite deep. Blood was snaking along her leg in thick tendrils and it was soaking the edges of the jagged rip the lamp created in her jeans. Elliot reached to undo her hands and he accidentally brushed his arm against her stomach.

"Nnngh!" Daxi screamed, but she quickly clenched her jaw. "Jesus, don't!" she growled through clenched teeth.

Elliot looked at her confused. "Daxi? What's wrong?" He reached to look at her abdomen, but she pulled her legs up to her chest. "Let me see." He gently pushed her legs down and moved her shirt. About halfway between her hipbone and her ribcage was a bloody mess. "You've been shot!" He exclaimed.

"I'm alright." Daxi said. Elliot looked at her closely. He hadn't noticed before but there was a thin trail of shining blood running out of the corner of her mouth. Feeling his gaze, she wiped her mouth on her shoulder. "It's just a flesh wound." She insisted as he untied her hands.

"That," Elliot said taking off his jacket and giving it to her to press to the wound. "Is not a flesh wound. Daxi, that bullet is inside of you."

"Actually, it's not. I felt it…you know, go through me." Daxi replied as she pressed the jacket to her stomach. "Goddamn." She muttered and she spat out more blood.

A scream from upstairs caused both of their heads to snap up. "Go!" Daxi said.

"But, you…I can get you outside." Elliot made to lift her up.

"No. I really can't be moved right now. Get Olivia." She argued.

"Let me-,"

"Elliot save Olivia!!" Daxi screamed. Elliot was startled by the tone in her voice. She sounded completely vulnerable. She sounded like a 15 year old. "Save her!"

Elliot nodded and ran up the stairs.

Daxi looked down. "Jesus." She groaned as she felt more blood fill her mouth. She spat and leaned her head against the wall.

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

Upstairs, Elliot found himself at one end of a long hall. They were three doors on each side and a set of double doors at the other end. Elliot heard the scream again. From here, though, the scream sounded more child-like. He listened closely. He could hear a soft crying, but it didn't sound like Olivia. Nor had the second scream.

Someone screamed again and this time Elliot was sure it wasn't Olivia. Elliot continued down the hall until he reached the double doors. Putting his ear to the door he could hear the child wailing. He drew his weapon and opened the door. He could see a crib sitting in the middle of the room. It, in fact, was the only thing in the room. Elliot stepped inside and made to go to the crib when something hit his wrist.

Elliot's gun hit the floor. Whatever hit him the first time hit him again; this time on the back of his neck. Elliot crumpled to the floor; conscious, but barely. He rolled onto his back and looked up with unfocused eyes. He blinked and shook his head vigorously and his vision cleared.

"What the-,"He started, but stopped when he saw who had hit him. Mark was standing against the wall behind the door holding a rusted piece of pipe. Olivia was lying on the floor at his feet, unconscious. "What did you do to her?" Elliot exclaimed.

"Well, I shot her didn't I?" Mark said. "I guess she's passed out for lack of blood." Mark smiled and turned the pipe in his hand. "Not unlike your friend, _Daxi_." Elliot didn't like the way he said her name.

"Daxi is going to be fine." Elliot said, but he felt his confidence ebbing. She'd been through so much and all that blood…

"You see, Detective Benson is very different from you and Daxi. You and Daxi are strong; you don't fall when you've been, for lack of a better word, hit. Olivia, here, was only grazed by a bullet from over 50 feet away and she's passed out. Now, Daxi, she was shot in the stomach at a distance of less than two feet away, yet she's still conscious and coherent. You, Detective Stabler, you were hit on the back of your neck, a shot that could have killed a man. But you're still standing. In other words, Detective, Olivia is weak. She doesn't belong."

"Don't you dare." Elliot growled. "Don't you insult her. She's one of the strongest people I know." Elliot followed Gitano with his eyes. He had noticed that Mark had been edging toward the crib while he had been talking.

"Then I suggest you get to know some more people." Mark said still inching toward the crib. The baby screamed again.

"What's with the baby, Gitano? You sick like your father? You like raping small children? You're worse than your father." Elliot was talking only to distract Gitano.

"Wouldn't you like to know why I have a baby?" Mark teased Elliot. "Well, the answer will be quite clear in a few minutes." Mark stopped walking.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elliot asked. He glanced at Olivia. She still hadn't moved.

"It means I'll be seeing you around Detective." Mark leaped for the crib. Elliot followed, but instead of grabbing the baby Mark pressed a button on the side of the crib. Elliot was momentarily confused. Mark took advantage of that confusion and hit Elliot in the stomach.

Elliot fell to his knees, winded. Mark made a run for a door on the other side of the room.

"Don't move." A voice that sent chills down Mark's and Elliot's spine.

Mark froze. The chill in the voice that had commanded him to stop might as well have been a bullet for the effect it had on him. He didn't move a muscle. Neither of the men knew who had spoken. It was different from anything they had heard. Elliot turned, fully expecting to see a fellow officer standing in the door. Instead, he saw…Daxi.

She was standing just inside the room. Her shirt was ripped up to the point just below her wound. Blood spread across her stomach and knee in thin spider-web like tendrils. Her lips were bloody and her eyes shone with a ferocity Elliot had never seen. Her eyes flicked between Mark and the crib as she bent down, picked up Elliot's gun, and pointed it at Mark.

"Elliot get Olivia. I need you out of here." Daxi said.

Elliot looked between her, Mark, Olivia, and the crib. "No way am I leaving you in here with him."

"It's okay, I don't mind." Daxi said, but her voice was cold and slightly sarcastic. "And neither does Mark. He knew it would come to this. He knew what I would have to do. That's why he tried to stop me with a bullet."

Elliot looked at her. He didn't know what she was talking about. "I will not leave."

"Oh, yes, you will." Daxi answered her eyes flashing dangerously.

"Daxi, I can't leave you alone. And what about the baby?" Elliot asked in a last ditch attempt.

"It's too late to do anything for her." She replied her voice growing quiet. She looked at the crib and Elliot saw a glimmer of the old Daxi, but the icy hardness reappeared in her eyes a second later. "Elliot, take Olivia and get out of here now! Tell everyone to get as far away as possible." Daxi said.

"What?" But Elliot got up and lifted Olivia gently into his arms. "Why is it too late?" Daxi looked at Elliot for a long moment.

"See for yourself." Daxi tipped her head in the direction of the crib.

Elliot walked over, keeping a good distance from Mark and looked into the now sleeping baby's crib. There was a sign written in black marker hanging from the baby mobile. As it spun Elliot read what was written: BABY GO BOOM.

"Oh my god." Elliot whispered. "Where is it? Where's the bomb? Maybe we can disarm it!" Elliot was looking over the entire crib. This process, however, was made awkward by Olivia's dead weight.

"You can't disarm it!" Daxi called shrilly to Elliot. "The baby is the bomb. In every literal and figurative sense, she is the bomb."

Elliot stumbled away from the crib and drew level with the door. He had to warn everybody. "How much time?" he asked swallowing.

"A little less than five minutes." Mark answered. Elliot looked at Daxi for confirmation. She nodded.

"But, we can go now." Elliot implored Daxi. "The four of us. We can arrest him and he'll be put away for life." Elliot gestured toward Mark.

"No, you have to leave." Daxi said.

"Why?" Elliot asked. He couldn't leave her. She was a just a kid, for Christs' sake!

Daxi looked Elliot straight in the eye, the gun never wavering from Mark's head.

"Because I don't believe in public executions." She said.

And everything became clear to Elliot. Well, most everything anyway. Daxi was going to kill Mark. She was going to end this her way. She was going to serve her version of justice, and Elliot had to agree, her version was more to his liking. The baby was a bomb and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it from detonating. Nothing. Elliot backed out of the room all the while watching Daxi. There was no way she would be able to get out of the house and a safe distance away before the bomb exploded. She was going to die. At age 15 she was going to die. And she didn't appear to be at all afraid.

Elliot opened his mouth to say something, anything. But, he was at a loss.

"Goodbye, Elliot." Daxi said. Her voice was hard and commanding.

"'Bye, Daxi." Elliot said and turned away.

It's a funny thing, knowing when you're gonna die. It's an even funnier thing when someone you didn't expect to be anything more than normal rises above you and sacrifices herself for you. It's odd, as you turn away from the new hero, someone you will always be in debt to. You feel like you've let everyone down and yet you feel as if you've done the right thing. It's like nothing you've ever felt before and that throws you because you think you've seen everything, done everything, felt every feeling there is to feel, when really you haven't. And you realize that as you stare into the eyes of the one thing standing between you and death.

Elliot bolted down the stairs in slow motion. He burst through the front door and out into the sunshine. He turned toward the cars and heard himself shout for everyone to go. He shouted for everyone to get in their cars and just go. He heard Munch yell something about Daxi, but Elliot ignored him. He placed Olivia in the backseat of his car and he got into the driver's side. Most everyone had already driven away. Munch, Fin, and Casey were just ahead of them.

Elliot slammed the door of his car and turned the key in the ignition. As his car flared to life he heard the unmistakable sound of gun going off. A single shot. The one to end it all. Elliot stomped on the gas and was only a few yards away when he heard the house go. Elliot kept going, he never looked back. But, the sound of that single, solitary shot would haunt him forever.

**TBC**

**A/N: So? What did you think? Suspenseful enough? Don't worry; all questions about Daxi will be answered in the next couple of chapters.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19: Funeral**

**Disclaimer: Nooo! They are not mine…yet. My birthday is coming. Please Dick…please? I'll be your best friend…?**

**A/N: I don't think I have ever gotten so many reviews on one chapter! I have also got some new readers, yay! I'm really glad that you guys liked it, but I still have many more twists up my sleeve. There will probably be only one or two more chapters. Personally, I'm gonna be kinda sad that it's over.**

**Yes! New SVU on Tuesday, finally! The episode doesn't look that stimulating from the preview, but from what I've heard it's supposed to be quite funny. Don't blame me if it's not, I'm only the messenger… (whistles innocently) So you've all heard the big SVU news, yeah? If you haven't, you may not want not read this next paragraph.**

**SPOILER: Aaaahhh! Someone is pregnant! It probably won't be Casey's or Melinda because that wouldn't necessarily interest EO shippers. I think it's either Kathy or Olivia. My guess is, is that it's Kathy with another man's baby.**

**As you've all heard Kathy sends a priest to talk to Elliot about coming home, but Elliot stalls. Maybe Kathy got tired of waiting and slept with someone else. That would certainly interest the EO shippers because, hello, Elliot would never go back to Kathy! Yay! But also because Elliot would probably need someone to lean on and who would that person be? Olivia!**

**Before the 8 season started they let slip that Benson and Stabler would need each other more than ever. Well, Olivia needs Elliot because she's just found her brother. Elliot would need Olivia because he might feel betrayed by Kathy. The only problem is, is that the actress who plays Kathy is not listed to be in the season finale.**

**The only other option is that Olivia gets pregnant. By Elliot or someone else. I am the biggest EO shipper, but I would not like a pregnant storyline for Olivia. It kinda jumps the shark, you know? Olivia really isn't ready for a kid. A lot of people have been speculating that Olivia has drunken sex with Porter (vomit) and gets pregnant. If that happened I think I would cry. No, I would definitely cry. But, there is also the possibility that she is raped. But, I don't like that either because it seems kinda repetitive, you know? I mean, Olivia's a child of rape, so wouldn't it be kind of cliché if she was raped?**

**Okay, enough ranting. And please review!! (I'm addicted to 'em!) LOL.**

**ENJOY!!!**

Three days had passed since Daxi's death. After the explosion, Elliot had rushed Olivia to a hospital nearby and the doctors had immediately given her a transfusion and done a sonogram. Elliot, Casey, Munch, and Fin had all waited with bated breath as the doctors checked to see if the baby was still okay. They waited as she was brought out of surgery and they waited as the doctors checked her tests.

"Elliot Stabler?" a man called out.

"Here." Elliot said flashing his badge at the doctor. "How is she?"

"She lost a lot of blood, but thanks to you her transfusion went well." Elliot rubbed his arm subconsciously. The needle had hurt like hell, but she was worth it. "It looks like the bullet had some sort of poison on it that prevented her body to stop the bleeding." Elliot nodded. Mark was now notorious for that poison.

"But you said the transfusion went well? She's alright?" Elliot asked.

"Yes, she should make a full recovery. The baby-," The doctor started.

"It's okay? The baby's alright?" Elliot interrupted.

The doctor looked at Elliot curiously. "Are you the father?"

Elliot looked slightly taken aback. "Is the baby okay?" He repeated. It wasn't the doctor's business if he was the father.

"Yes, the baby is going to be fine. There was no trauma to her abdomen at all and the loss of blood worried us a little, but they pulled through." The doctor was still looking at Elliot.

Elliot glared at the doctor. He glared until the other man looked away. "I'm sorry," Elliot said a noticeable chill in his tone. "I didn't catch your name. Who are you?"

Munch, Fin, and Casey looked up. They had heard the ice in Elliot's voice. Something about this doctor had Elliot bristling.

"I'm Doctor Greg Daley." He replied not looking at Elliot.

"Well, Dr. Daley, if you don't mind I'd like to see Olivia." Elliot waited as the doctor hesitated. "Now." He said forcefully.

Greg nodded. "Of course. Right this way." They four followed the doctor down the hall. They reached a door at the end of the corridor. "Here it is. Detective Benson should be ready to leave in a day or so."

"Thank you." They replied.

"Oh, Detective Stabler?" the doctor called out. Elliot turned around. "Congratulations." And he walked away.

Elliot looked after him and shook his head. He had gone into the room and stayed with Olivia all night. She had been released the next morning.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

When they had returned to New York later that second day they found Munch sitting alone at his desk.

"John? You okay?" Olivia has asked sitting next to him. Elliot sat on the edge of Munch's desk.

"What's up?" Elliot asked.

"She was my niece." Munch said quietly. Both detectives heard him, but neither understood.

"Who?" Elliot asked.

"Daxi. She was my niece."

Elliot and Olivia stared at John openmouthed. His niece? Since when did Munch have a niece? He never talked about his family.

"Niece…?" Olivia repeated. Munch nodded.

"You know, it's funny." John said his voice breaking. "It was my fault that she got involved in this."

"How so?"

"Kaye was-," Munch started, but stopped when he saw the confused looks on their faces. "Daxi's real name is Kaye. She was put into Witness Protection two years ago. I managed to pull a few strings and they allowed me to keep in touch with her. I was the only family she had left, anyway."

"Why was she in the WPP?" Olivia asked.

"Her parents were involved in some gang business that turned ugly. Her parents backed out and they were killed for their disloyalty. Daxi was the only one to survive the attack. Her mother, her father, her two twin sisters, and her infant brother were all murdered."

Olivia gasped involuntarily. She felt awful for Daxi. Her entire family had been killed, right in front of her.

"The gang," Munch continued. "Didn't realize she was alive until a month or so later. But by that time she was already in Witness Protection. They sent people to look for her, but didn't find a single trace. To my knowledge they still haven't found her. And now it doesn't matter…" Munch buried his face in his hands.

"But how did she get involved in this?" Elliot asked. Olivia gave him a fierce look that clearly said to leave Munch alone. He'd been through a lot and interrogating him now might not be the best idea.

Munch shook his head. He knew why, but he didn't want to talk about his niece right now.

"Let's go talk to Cragen." Elliot said quietly and he and Olivia got up and knocked on Cragen's door.

Cragen had been expecting it. Now that the case was closed he knew the two detectives would find out about Daxi. "Come." He said and they entered.

"Captain, we want to ask you about-," Olivia started, but Cragen interrupted.

"You want to know about Daxi. Sit down. It could take a while."

Elliot and Olivia sat. They looked expectantly at Cragen and he sighed.

"It wasn't supposed to end like this. She was supposed to live." Cragen started. "Daxi's real name is Kaye Munch. I assume you both know she is Munch's niece?"

They nodded.

"Good. Anyway, Kaye's father, Alex Munch, is Munch's younger brother. Kaye was very close to John. Some might say she was closer to him than her own father, but she loved them both. When her family was killed it was necessary that she be placed in the WPP. They changed her name to Lily Smith and moved her to Philadelphia. She lived there for 22 months. The 23 month, last month, she was relocated to New York City because the people who were after her had come dangerously close to finding her. John was able to keep in touch with her for the past two years and when we got wind that someone was really after you, we needed someone on the inside."

"Now, while John, Fin, and Casey are your friends, they can't keep watch over you 24/7. So we had to have an informant. Someone you could trust. Someone that could watch over you and make sure nothing happened. We decided we needed a kid. We don't normally institute a minor's help in high priority cases like yours, but you might not have trusted an adult. Munch said he knew the perfect person. He told me about his niece. What she had been through, what she was going through. He said he had given her lessons on being a cop when she was younger. He said she knew how to defend herself, interrogate a suspect, and shoot a gun with perfect aim by the time she was thirteen."

Elliot nodded. "She was perfect." He said.

Cragen concurred. "When I spoke to Kaye the first time about taking on this assignment she seemed more than happy to help. She was young, charming, and tough. She was also a very good actress. She had Mark Gitano believing she really was just a normal 15 year old."

"So, the woman she was living with…was she a drunk?" Olivia asked.

"No, that wasn't even the woman she was living with when she entered the WPP. The woman is a cop we asked to play the part of a drunk. Just in case she wasn't able to get you to trust her, we needed to have something so that you could relate to her. Olivia, you related to her because her "mom" was a drunk like yours and Elliot, you related to her because you couldn't stand to see a child in danger."

"So where did you come up with the name Olivia Stabler?" Elliot asked.

"She actually picked it." Cragen said as he smiled fondly. "We had given her the choice of picking her undercover name, but she couldn't decide what to pick. The first time saw the two of you she turned to me and said, "I know what my name is going to be. Olivia Stabler." I laughed and asked her why. She shrugged and said something like, "You'll probably find out soon, anyway." How right she was." Cragen looked at the two partners before him.

"So she chose her name because she saw us together?" Olivia smiled and felt her eyes become wet. She really missed that kid. If Olivia hadn't have been so weak, maybe they would have gotten out of the house…

"Kaye didn't want a detail when the first warning came. She said she could do it herself. And she did. She ended this in a very final way." Cragen explained.

Elliot looked at his shoes. He should have grabbed her. He should have grabbed Kaye and made a run for it. He could've been the one to shoot Mark and then maybe, just maybe, they all would have made it out alive. But, he had hesitated. Because of him, a girl…an innocent…was dead.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Three days after her death the funeral was held. The weather reflected everyone's feelings. The sky was grey and rain was pouring down. Nevertheless, all the officers from every precinct in the city showed up. Many civilians had come too. They all wanted to pay their final respects to the girl that had saved their lives. They all wanted to see the hero all the news stations were rambling about.

All the headlines read, "Fifteen year old Kaye Munch, niece to Detective John Munch of Manhattan's SVU, was killed in an explosion after saving many of New York's finest."

Her real name had been released because it didn't matter now if the people who were after her knew who she was. They couldn't do anything to her now.

Throughout the service, Munch had sat with Casey. His face was white, and he gripped the pew so hard he actually started to bleed. Casey had held his hand and spoken quietly to him, but no one could tell if he heard her or not. They might have believed him to be dead, save for the rise and fall of his chest and the wateriness of his eyes.

The casket was closed. People began to leave because the funeral directors said they would have to wait for the rain to stop before anyone could move the casket. Soon, Elliot, Olivia, Munch, Fin, and Casey were the only ones left. Cragen had left because he still had a lot of paperwork to do about the death of a civilian while working for the police.

The four detectives and one ADA sat silently. No one moved, no one made a sound. They just sat and stared at the casket. No one wanted to believe that she was dead, she had been so strong. They expected the casket to fly open and have Kaye standing there, arms crossed and an indignant look on her face saying something about how rude it was to bury someone when they aren't dead.

But the casket didn't fly open. The church remained silent as did the people inside it.

**TBC**

**A/N: Sorry, short chapter. But, I didn't want to overwhelm you guys with information. Well, there is only one more chapter to go. I may not update for awhile, but I might be encouraged to update sooner if you all review!! Please, tell me what you thought of this chapter. I'm not sure how well I explained everything, so if you have any questions please let me know and I'll answer them in my next chapter.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20: Epilogue**

**Disclaimer: All mine!! All miiiiinee!! Bwahahaha! Wait! Dick, best friend! I didn't mean it!! It was…it was a- a joke! Yeah, that's it…a joke! Wait! No! No Stop! Damn…another lawsuit.**

**A/N: Okay, this is it! Last chapter! Many of you have been asking me if I'm doing a sequel…I can't. And you'll see why in this chapter. Daxi may appear in some other stories, though. I don't know yet. I really hope you like this chapter. There is not a whole lot of action, but it kinda wraps things up. You may not like what I've done, so I'm sorry. **

**This chapter basically sums everything with Kaye (Daxi) and the squad up. I really hope you enjoy it! I don't know what I'm going to do now. This story has basically been my life for the past month or so. What to do…? I mean I'm not gonna do schoolwork, cause, hey, what's the point? (LOL Ms. F!!!!) Nah, but seriously, I guess I'll enter some more stories that have been floating around in my overcrowded head.**

**I am sooooo friggin' tired! I didn't sleep at all last night. Not even for a minute. Instead, I watched Bad Boys 2. Will Smith is sooo hot! I think I've watched every movie he's been in… But, I'm not obsessed. I can only have one obsession at a time and, right now, it's SVU. And it's going to be SVU for a looong time. After Bad Boys 2 I watched Seven, then Charlie's Angels 1 and 2, then I went to school. I was in Science class, and while I love my science teacher, the topic of Earth Science does not fascinate me. (Sorry if any of you are Earth Science majors.) I was pretty much asleep. Not quite there, but almost. The weird thing is, is that I heard every word she said.**

**Now, English today! Wheww! How boring was that?! Ahahaha! I just kidding Ms. F!! To be honest, I don't really remember what I did in most of my classes today. I should probably work on that…Naw, I don't feel like it. Too lazy. So how excited are we? The new episode of Law and Order SVU is on tomorrow!! Yay! It's been a whole month since we saw a new one.**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I think that was the most reviews I think I have ever gotten! We are now up to 227! Yay! Like I always say…I'm a review junkie so please, please, please with sugar on top review!**

**This chapter is for Kiki and JusticeIsBlind13 because you guys are just that cool!**

**(I used a lot of o's in this Author's Note. Sorry, don't know where that came from.)**

**ENJOY MUCH!!**

**Three Years Later**

Three years have passed since Kaye's funeral. And not a day had gone by where Elliot, Olivia, Munch, Fin, and Casey hadn't thought of her. They all missed her, but they had learned to hide their pain. Yes, they would always grieve for her, but they tried to remember her in life. Unfortunately, that proved harder than it sounded because all they could ever think about was how she had sacrificed herself. Every time they closed their eyes and thought about her, they would see her face. That cocky smile that had become her trademark.

Many nights Elliot had comforted Olivia. She blamed herself; always saying that if she had been stronger and hadn't needed to lean on Kaye they may have gotten out alive. Olivia would cry into Elliot's shirt as they lay in bed, silently taking strength from each other.

They had gotten engaged about a month after Kaye's death and married ten months later. Olivia hadn't wanted to look pregnant in her dress so they had agreed to wait until after the baby was born. The baby turned out to be a beautiful baby girl whom they named Jennifer. They were just one happy family; Elliot Stabler, Olivia Stabler, and Jen Stabler. Instead of hiring a babysitter they took Jen to work with them everyday. What safer place than a police station? But, they still remembered the day that 20 armed men had almost destroyed them. How could they forget the day that began the rest of their lives?

John and Casey were also engaged a month after Kaye died. Their wedding was eleven months later. Casey's baby and Olivia's baby, oddly enough, were born on the same day about an hour apart. Casey's baby had come at about 10:10 pm and Olivia's had followed soon after at about 11:14 pm on August 1, 2007.

Casey and John had named their baby Kristina. The two happy couples and their babies made it through three years before it happened. Three years steeped in the darkness of death, yet brightened with the prospect of new life. And those three years were about to come crashing down.

Olivia, Elliot, Fin, and Casey sat in the squad room watching their baby's play. Kristina and Jen were about 2 and a half, but both were mature in many ways. Jen had bright blue eyes like her father and auburn hair that was highlighted with red in the sunlight from her mother. She was a charming child; she was always smiling, but she was persistent and stubborn like both her parents.

Kristina had straight red hair that was streaked with gold in the sunlight and blue eyes, that no one really knew the origin. Their best guess was that because Daxi also had blue eyes, Munch must have the gene somewhere in his family. Kaye was also stubborn, but very argumentative like her mom and dad. It was either her way or the highway.

There had been many changes in the 1-6 since Kaye's death. Cragen had died about a year after Kaye. He had been driving to work when an 18 wheeler smashed into the driver's side of Cragen's car. Cragen had been rushed to the hospital, but it was too late. There was nothing the doctors could do; he was gone before they ever reached the hospital. So they had buried another one of their colleagues and their hearts had mourned. But, like all humans do, they moved on, realizing that Cragen would not have wanted them to mope around for too long.

The driver of the 18 wheeler had been high and wasn't paying attention to where he was going. He was arrested and brought to trial a month later. The jury had found him guilty of murder two, reckless endangerment, possession of an illegal substance, intent to sell an illegal substance, and driving under the influence. Casey had pushed for every conviction she could think of, but when it's a decorated cop in the wooden box it doesn't take much convincing.

The driver, named Adam Ferguson, was sentenced with 10 years for each count to be served consecutively. That was 50 years in prison, but, unfortunately he never got to serve them. Two months after being incarcerated he was killed during a gang fight when someone stuck two sharpened toothbrushes up his nose. The detectives had to admit; none were too broken up over the news.

Munch had been made successor to Captain Cragen and had since far been doing an excellent job of keeping the place up to par. While he said he enjoyed being captain, he was hesitant because he missed going out on a call with his friends. So, they made a compromise; every ninth call they got Munch got to go. That cheered him up a bit.

Fin had been partnered with Detective Chester Lake from the Brooklyn SVU. They would never click on the same level that Munch and Fin had clicked on, but they got along well enough. He could relate to the victims. He had been abused when he was young as well.

Casey was now the District Attorney, but still took SVU cases. In her place was Elliot's daughter, Maureen Stabler. At first, Elliot had been opposed to letting his eldest see what he sees, but she had gone to law school and figured the best way to make a difference was to help the live victims. Olivia had gently convinced Elliot to give his blessing to his daughter. Maureen was married and was expecting her first child in the next three months.

Elliot and Olivia were still the same. They had each been offered many other jobs; jobs that paid better, but neither had accepted any. They were happy where they were. Before he died, Cragen had finagled it so that Elliot and Olivia would be able to remain partners. He had pulled a lot of strings and for that they would always be grateful.

"Liv, could you watch Kristina for a minute? I want to talk to John about something." Casey said standing up and heading towards his office.

"Sure." Olivia smiled. She turned back to Elliot always keeping an eye on the babies.

"You okay?" Elliot asked standing up and kneeling down in front of her. She had been a little distant today.

"Yeah, it's just. Well, it's exactly three years ago today that Kaye died and I know I didn't really know her, but I…" she trailed off. Elliot knew what she meant. She had grown quite attached to the charming girl and so had he. He would always blame himself for leaving her there and no matter how many times Olivia or someone else insisted it wasn't his fault he would always believe that it was.

"Me too. But, she saved you and I will always be in debt to her for that." Elliot smiled as Olivia finally looked him in the eyes. She smiled. It was the first real smile she had had all day.

"She saved you too." Olivia said. Elliot took her hands in his, absentmindedly rubbing his thumb over her wedding ring. She grasped his hands in return and smiled again. "I love you, Elliot." She said sincerely.

"I love you too, Olivia. More than you'll ever know." He placed a chaste kiss on her lips and stood up. He turned just in time to see his daughter, Jen, crawling around a corner and out into the hall. "Jen!" he called laughing to himself. 'Just like her mother.' He thought. 'Never listens to a word I say.' Elliot was about to follow her when a young woman entered the squad room carrying the baby.

Munch and Casey were exiting the office when they saw her too.

"Did you lose something?" The young woman asked. She spoke with a slightly British accent and had straight, shoulder length, choppy black hair that was streaked with a bright blue that brought out her eyes. It was a very stylish look and the girl carried it very well. She was wearing a tight black turtleneck, form-fitting black jeans, black hiking boots, and a leather coat that came to a point just above her knees. The only piece of jewelry she wore was a silver locket that had two letters carved into the delicate surface. EO was written in curly letters. But, something about her voice and the smile she wore were very familiar.

"Yes, thank you." Elliot said taking the placid child from the woman's arms. "She's my daughter." The woman smiled.

"She's got your eyes." She said, then turned to look at the other child who was sitting on the floor staring curiously at the new arrival. "And she's yours?" the woman asked Casey indicating the toddler on the floor with a flick of her chin.

Casey nodded. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

"She's got your demeanor. Look at the way she's sitting." Kristina was indeed sitting in nearly the same way her mother was standing.

The woman glanced around the precinct as if lost in thought, but when Elliot spoke she seemed quite aware.

"Can we help you?" he asked. There was something about her…something familiar.

"No, no. I just wanted to see this place." She paused thoughtfully. "Again."

'Again?' Olivia and Elliot both thought. 'When was she here in the first place?'

"I'm sorry, have we met?" Olivia asked. The young woman turned and looked at Olivia. The second their eyes locked Olivia felt a shockwave ripple through her. She knew this girl. Had she been a victim in a rape case they had worked? A family member of a rape victim? An abused child?

The girl smiled. It was a cocky, self-assured smile, but it was unassuming and only made her features look more delicate. She flicked her bangs out of her eyes with a casual toss of her head and continued to smile. She didn't answer Olivia's question, rather, she seemed to ignore it all together.

"What are their names?" the woman asked glancing at the two toddlers who were still staring at her with curiosity.

Olivia regarded the woman with suspicious eyes. 11 years in Special Victims had taught her not to trust anyone you didn't know. And, even then, you can't trust some people you do know. Olivia was fortunate; she had a wonderful husband, a beautiful daughter, and great friends.

"The one with the dark hair is Jen and the one with the red hair is Kristina. We thought about naming them Daxi and Kaye, but we knew there could never be someone quite like her." Olivia stopped. Why was she pouring out her heart to this stranger? But something about the woman made her feel safe.

For a moment the woman looked surprised and very close to tears. But she pulled herself together and looked away from the two children. "So you're captain?" she asked addressing Munch.

He nodded. "And you are?" he tried, but like Olivia, was ignored by the stranger. The woman's gaze was still roaming the precinct with the air of someone who knew it intimately.

"How old are you?" Fin asked suddenly. He hadn't meant for it to come out and felt immediately ashamed at his rudeness. But, she looked at him over her shoulder and grinned.

"18." She said. There was something in the way she said it; almost like she was trying to give them a message in some secret code.

She turned away from Fin and looked back at the two babies. "Two and a half?" the woman asked to no one in particular.

"S'cuse me?" Casey asked.

"The babies." She clarified, a small, amused smile on her lips. "They're two and a half?"

The detectives and the lawyer weren't sure what to say. How did this girl know so much about them? Unless…but, no. It couldn't be.

"What is your name?" Elliot asked annunciating each word.

She laughed wearily. "You know…I'm not even sure anymore. Currently, I'm Crystal Fierch."

They were confused by her answer. Currently? What did that mean?

Munch was staring at the woman. He couldn't tear his eyes away. If he was right…but, he couldn't be. It was impossible. Right?

Crystal's gaze swept over each of them; her eyes holding theirs then moving on when they dropped their gaze. Her eyes finally rested on Munch and he knew it to be true. She was back. She was dead, but she was back.

"Jesus." He whispered and her eyes lit up.

"You know!" she said excitedly. Munch nodded. The rest of the group looked between Munch and Crystal. Crystal opened her mouth to speak, but one of the babies began to make noises.

They all looked around at the babies. Jen was clapping her hands and repeating, "Unca Munch! Unca Munch!" like a mantra. Her dark hair was falling into her eyes, but that just seemed to add to her excitement. Kristina looked at her playmate and sighed. She then looked at her mother and held out her hand to Crystal.

"See?" Kristina repeated over and over. Casey, Olivia, and Elliot looked between their children. They didn't know what to say. The kids were acting so strange.

"What are they-," Olivia started, but stopped abruptly. She slowly turned to Crystal. "No." she shook her head in disbelief. "No…" Elliot hurried to Olivia just in case she collapsed. She looked like she could at any moment. She grabbed Elliot's arm and held on. "But…but you…" Her voice failed her.

Olivia just shook her head and shrugged. Crystal walked over and stood directly in front of Olivia. They were the same height. Crystal held out her hand, palm up. Elliot's breath caught when he saw the scar running the length of her palm and a little way up her wrist. Fin saw it too and blanched.

"Oh boy!" Olivia choked and hugged the woman in front of her. "How?"

The woman smiled. "When Elliot left I grabbed Mark and dragged him downstairs. He hit me and tried to run. That's when I shot him." She paused and glanced up at the adults gathered around her. "He didn't suffer. I made sure of that. I had intended to die in that explosion, but once he was dead I didn't see any reason to die for his cause. That would cause him to be remembered. And I didn't want him to be remembered."

She paused. Everybody was still silent. She took a deep breath and continued. "I ran into the backyard, jumped into the ocean, and swam as far as I could before the house went up. I didn't get very far; only about waist deep. When the house blew I dove and stayed under the water until it was over. Unfortunately, I had to come up for air sometime and when I did…wow." She stopped and shook her head. They all understood what she was trying to tell them; how horrible it was to see something like that. And she had been shot nevertheless.

"Then?" Munch asked. He had to know. Kaye was his niece.

"The water was turning to steam the explosion was so hot. God! I don't remember much after that. I started to feel kinda dizzy because I had lost a bit of blood and…and then somebody was pulling me out of the water. He said that I was going to the hospital and that I would have a new identity. I woke up two weeks later with a killer headache, a sore throat, and my entire body feeling like it was on fire."

"Jesus." Elliot muttered.

"They said the sore throat was from the smoke inhalation and lack of water. They said I'd have a headache for awhile because of the amount of blood loss. And the fiery feeling in my body was just a mixture of the medication and lack of movement. The next thing I know, I'm on a plane to London and my new name is Crystal Fierch."

Detective Lake stepped forward. "Hi." He said extending his hand. "I'm Detective Chester Lake. I don't know who you are, but I've heard a lot about you."

Kaye shook his hand. "My name's Kaye Munch. Well, officially, that is. I was in the WPP for the past few years, but I'm out. Apparently the threat has been eliminated, but is it ever really over?"

"Munch? As in…?" Lake gestured to John.

"I'm his niece." Kaye laughed lightly.

"You are going to go down in history." Elliot said.

"Huh?" Kaye asked.

"You saved us all and managed to save yourself from certain death. That takes courage Kaye." Elliot smiled and hugged Kaye as well. Casey and Fin also hugged her and stepped back as Munch came up.

"Uncle John." She said. He pulled her into a fierce hug.

"It's over. You're back." He held onto his niece. It had been three long years since he had seen her and not a day had gone by when he hadn't thought of her.

"I'm back." She whispered and stepped away from him. He reluctantly let her go. "Do you approve of the new look?" she did a sort of pirouette. They all laughed and clapped.

"But where'd the accent come from?" Olivia asked.

"After living in London for three years, you'd have an accent too." Kaye laughed.

The babies saw everyone hugging Kaye and they trotted over too. They each wrapped their arms around one of Kaye's legs and tightened their hold.

"Oh, okay…" Kaye was laughing and pin wheeling her arms slightly to keep her balance.

The group laughed in a way that none had laughed in awhile. Everything felt right; safe. Kaye was home and she was safe. The babies were fine and for that moment, just that one moment, they allowed themselves to forget the rest of the world and enjoyed the company of each other.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Elliot and Olivia sat on the couch that night just talking. It was something that Elliot and Kathy had never done. Olivia was so easy to be with and she didn't pressure him to talk if he didn't want to. Olivia felt the same way. Elliot never pushed her except when it was necessary.

Olivia swirled the wine in her glass and traced the rim lightly with her finger. "I can't believe she's alive." She said after a long period of silence.

Elliot massaged her neck and nodded. "She made it. She fought through it and she really is back." Olivia leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. Elliot removed the wine glass from her hand and wrapped his arms around her, laying his head on top of hers.

Olivia smiled and played with her ring, watching as it shot off little sparks of light when the moonlight got caught in it. She smiled and snuggled in deeper next to Elliot. They sat in a comfortable, sleepy silence. Elliot kissed the top of her head.

"I love you." He whispered into her hair. She smiled.

"I love you too, El. Forever." Her voice was muffled by his shirt.

"Forever." He repeated. And, soon, they were both asleep.

**The End**

**A/N: Aaaah! This is my last Author's Note! So this is the end.** **I figured I would give you a happy shippy ending. What did you think? And because this is the last chapter I expect lots of reviews! LOL.**


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